Notification of proposed "indexing"
 

Did anybody ever receive such an email, how did you deal with it and did you have any problems after you received that email?
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Dear Madam/Sir,



the BPjM is an administrative authority of the German government called ?Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien?. Our task is to protect children and adolescents in Germany from any media which might be harmful or dangerous to minors (e.g. racist / violent / pornographic content). This work is authorized by the ?Youth Protection Law? (Jugendschutzgesetz ? JuSchG). You can find further information about our work in the enclosed form.



A German youth welfare institution has requested the BPjM to examine the site "MY DOMAIN WAS HERE" and to enter its address into the ?list of youth-endangering media? because of its pornographic content. Such content ? according to German law ? may then only be distributed if a valid age verification system ensures that no minors (i.e. people under the age of 18) will be able to access the site and its content.



We would like to ask you to forward us your post address, so that we can then properly notify you about the request by the youth welfare institution and give you the opportunity to reply within one week after the notification.



Best regards,
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Nothing was enclosed as described in the email.

ignore .

Donate it to the "Bailout fund"

Did anybody ever receive this?

Strange. Someone is phishing for info.

They are idiots. Just ignore it.

Consequences: Your site will get forced out of the German Google SERPS and you *might* have a surprise if you ever travel to Germany, but that option is rather unlikely.

2 Options:

1.: Ignore if you don't care about the google.de SERPS
2.: Show German visitors a "FSK16" compliant alternative site / tour. FSK16 = softcore maximum bare boobs.

If you give them your address all that'll happen is that you get the official version of that email via certified postal snail mail.

Looks like a phishing email.

Ignore it.

Just curious here but did you receive the same notification and or can you say this is legit or not? I wish the op had included the header info/email it came from

I received it via snail mail... so no idea about email headers.

I would not be surprised at all if this was real.

Thanks :) it sounded legit to me and pretty messed up. But I have heard that Germany can be a bit uptight when it comes to porn

Email address it came from was: XXXX at bpjm.bund.de (XXXX was a name and last name)
Subject: Notification of proposed "indexing" of "MY DOMAIN WAS HERE" by BPjM Pr. 736/12

I wonder if it gets "indexed" if I should block German traffic or how to deal with it

Indexing in this case simply means your site gets put on the German blacklist for sites that can harm minors and thus also get blocked from German Google results.

Nothing to worry about really if your main customer base aren't Germans.

And yes, this looks legit to me.

I would hate the idea of getting blacklisted from Germany, those folks consume some serious porn! Lol

Sure it sucks, but once the BPJM has you in their sights you either make damn sure you only show softcore (bare tits is the maximum) content to German visitors outside of the members area or you use a German verified AVS before any German can see your site...

That is if you want to appeal the process and stay legit in the eyes of the German Government / Regulatory body.

They can "index" these jewels LOL

So once indexed do they try to force the owner to block the content or what is the next step from their side?

As far as I'm aware they do DMCA / petition Google so you disappear from the google.de serps.

Your site will also be put on the German index of sites that can harm minors / the development of minors - as far as I'm aware there aren't any blocks like DNS or ISP blocks that make use of that list (yet).

And no, it usually ends with that letter.
If you appeal the process and go either softcore for German visitors or use an AVS for Germans they will review it and if it's to their satisfaction they will leave you alone (don't add you to the "index" and kick you out of google.de)
if you don't react it ends with being put on that index and being kicked from google.de - no other actions as far as I'm aware.

Make Germans go to poo poo porn... That is what they crave anyway...