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The German government decided on cabinet level to introduce a law for an internet censorship - allegedly to block child porn. It's a publicity stunt of our inept minister for family affairs.
Everyone with basic internet skills can easily circumvent such a censorship with legal freeware and most online experts confirm the utter uselessness and ineffectiveness of the approach.
Nevertheless, the government wants to proceed - in violation of Artikel 5, Satz 1 of our constitution:
("[...] A censorship does not happen.")The German government decided on cabinet level to introduce a law for an internet censorship - allegedly to block child porn. It's a publicity stunt of our inept minister for family affairs.
Everyone with basic internet skills can easily circumvent such a censorship with legal freeware and most online experts confirm the utter uselessness and ineffectiveness of the approach.
Nevertheless, the government wants to proceed - in violation of Artikel 5, Satz 1 of our constitution:
Artikel 5
(1) Jeder hat das Recht, seine Meinung in Wort, Schrift und Bild frei zu äußern und zu verbreiten und sich aus allgemein zugänglichen Quellen ungehindert zu unterrichten. Die Pressefreiheit und die Freiheit der Berichterstattung durch Rundfunk und Film werden gewährleistet. Eine Zensur findet nicht statt.
http://www.bundestag.de/parlament/funktion/gesetze/Grundgesetz/gg_01.html
I'd like to give my German readers the hint that an online petition is going on at the internet page of the Bundestag (parliament).
It's the only online petition with more than a thousand signatures, and it has already more than 28,500!
It can be signed till 16.06.2009 here.
edit 2009-05-08 0115: It's done!
We've got 50,000 e-signatures on this petition, the magic mark.
The Bundestag now needs to discuss the petition if I understood it correctly.
The petition system almost never reaches this 50,000 mark - but this petition did it in four days, many weeks before the signing period ends.
The topic is about to hit mainstream media - the next week's weekly journals, TV news and newspapers could force the politicians to accept a national discussion . A discussion that would certainly reveal the absurdity and utter uselessness of the plan.
The law is in my opinion very likely to be delayed till after the election. It's rather unlikely that the extremely unpopular responsible minister will remain in office after the election. The liberals (F.D.P. might join the government and pick up their traditional role of a pro-liberty, pro-freedom (and pro-business) coalition party.
By the way; additional signatures are welcome.
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Nice done, put this one on Facebook because I wan't also my Englisch speaking friends to understand it.
ReplyDeleteA little update:
We've reached the 50.000 :) But the more, the better.
Hey everyone,
ReplyDeleteI just want to point out (or try to with my bad English) that EVERYONE in the whole world is allowed to support this petition, because german constitution grands everyone to write petitions to the german parliament (or any other public institution of germany). This right has the totality of a human right in germany (some might say, because we are a nation of complainers ;-)) - Even childern, foreigner ... may. Everyone means everyone.
If you can read German, in this thread of the discussion site of the online-petition, you can read exactly the laws that grand you these rights:
https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/index.php?topic=1564.0
(starts with a discussion to fill out the registration correctly - later that foreigners are allowed to sign the petition also)
So - why should foreigners sign a petition - THIS petetion - in germany:
1.) Even if you are a visitor in Germany, you have the right (again granted by german constitution) to get information by every (legal) public source you like - without censoring. Of course child porn illegal. But the mechanisms to block this content can easily exended to every content - and there are no general control mechanisms - the BKA (german FBI) decides by itself which sites should be blocked - the perfect mechanism for censoring.
2.) If you are in germany, and let’s say, go to an internet cáfe or use the connection of your hotel - and you reach a blocked website with bad luck, your IP is stored by the BKA. And the BKA has then officially thinks you are searching for cild porn - and because you are using internet not from home - there is the danger that it is not possible to find you the very next day. It might be not nice, if the police awaits you in the lobby of your hotel - only because some spambot or cyber-worm “helps” you to find illegal sites.
3.) The lists of blocked sites are secret. If you are not using a german provider, you will never know if YOUR homepage, blog, commercial website, ect. is blocked.
4.) This is an infrastructure for censoring - and we all know, if its installed, it will be used and extended. Do anyone in the world wants to have the germany Nation to be uninformed, wrong informed, censored? - AGAIN. History shows - we can do this quite effective and with uncontrolable consequences.
sign the e-petition to show, that even foreigners don’t want Germany to be censored again.
1.) make an account on the petition portal of the german parliament:
https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/index.php?action=register
email (repeat email), password (repeat password)
And then your name and adress:
Frau/Mann = Mrs./Mr.
Name = sirname
Vorname = first name
organisation = institution, company… (optional)
Titel = academic title if any (optional)
Straße und Hausnummer = street and house number
Postleitzahl = postual code/zip code
Wohnort = place of residence/city
Land = country
Bundesland = federal state of germany/foreign countries - choose the last one (AUSLAND) if you are not living in germany
Telefonnummer = telefon-number (optional)
then activate option “Ich bin einverstanden” - which says, you are ok with the privacy-policy of the portal.
At last prove, not to be a bot with:
“Visuelle Verifizierung” - type in the letters you see in the picture on the bottom of the site,
Then push “Registrien”-Button.
Your username is generated automatically: “NutzerXXX” - XXX is a number.
2.) sign in with the username and your password.
3.) Sign the e-petition:
You find the right one at:
https://epetitionen.bundestag.de/index.php?action=petition;sa=details;petition=3860
click on: “Petition mitzeichnen” - sign petition
Its in the field “Anzahl Mitzeichnungen” (number of signings) - the forth blue box.
Congratulations: You have signed a e-petition to the german parliament - against censoring the internet.