[FACTS] Germany, or "Oh no not again"
I had the prosecutor's spokesman on phone today. The result is that someone gave a hint to the prosecutors which explicitly mentioned Zundel, T-Online and Compuserve. Consequently, the prosecutors *had* to start investigations against Zundel, T-Online and Compuserve. In particular, they are right now *checking* whether providing internet access is a criminal offence due to the possibility to gain access to `inciting material' (the German word is `Volksverhetzung') via the Net. This means that it is not even clear whether the investigations against internet providers will be dropped or not; in fact many people believe that these investigatinos *will* be dropped. My personal guess about all this is that some net.citizens are trying to have the prosecutors engaged in absolutely absurd investigations (or, even better, achieve a court room clash on this subject) to get some clarification of the legal situation of the Net in Germany. Quite similar to the RSA T-Shirt story in the States. ,-) tlr
Thomas Roessler writes:
... In particular, they are right now *checking* whether providing internet access is a criminal offence due to the possibility to gain access to `inciting material' (the German word is `Volksverhetzung') via the Net.
If so, then this humble non-lawyer would suggest to the prosecutors that they go after travel agencies next, because they sell airline tickets that could be used to travel to countries where offensive material is available. ______c_____________________________________________________________________ Mike M Nally * Tivoli Systems * Austin TX * I want more, I want more, m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com * I want more, I want more ... <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101> *_______________________________
m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally) writes:
Thomas Roessler writes:
... In particular, they are right now *checking* whether providing internet access is a criminal offence due to the possibility to gain access to `inciting material' (the German word is `Volksverhetzung') via the Net.
If so, then this humble non-lawyer would suggest to the prosecutors that they go after travel agencies next, because they sell airline tickets that could be used to travel to countries where offensive material is available.
Isn't there something in U.S. Code about crossing state lines for immoral purposes? (While I'm thoroughly disgusted by the German government's censorship, let's not forget that the U.S. is no paradigm of freedom either.) --- Dr. Dimitri Vulis Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, On Mon, 29 Jan 1996, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
Isn't there something in U.S. Code about crossing state lines for immoral purposes?
No relevance here. Originally enacted to combat the "white slavery" trade, it was probably used more to prosecute unmarried lovers for sexual activity outside of marriage. I don't even know if it's still on the books, but as I said, no relevance in the current debate. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Mon, 29 Jan 1996, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally) writes:
Thomas Roessler writes:
... In particular, they are right now *checking* whether providing internet access is a criminal offence due to the possibility to gain access to `inciting material' (the German word is `Volksverhetzung') via the Net.
If so, then this humble non-lawyer would suggest to the prosecutors that they go after travel agencies next, because they sell airline tickets that could be used to travel to countries where offensive material is available.
Isn't there something in U.S. Code about crossing state lines for immoral purposes?
Yeah -- the intent was to stop the undesirables from kidnapping the pure white wimmin. Hasn't been used for years, if not decades.
(While I'm thoroughly disgusted by the German government's censorship, let's not forget that the U.S. is no paradigm of freedom either.)
It's about as close as you can get, though. The US is the battleground because it has the power to impose its will on the rest of the world. Crypto controls in the US effectively mean crypto controls on common software worldwide. -rich
On Mon, 29 Jan 1996, Rich Graves wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jan 1996, Dr. Dimitri Vulis wrote:
m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally) writes:
Isn't there something in U.S. Code about crossing state lines for immoral purposes?
Yeah -- the intent was to stop the undesirables from kidnapping the pure white wimmin. Hasn't been used for years, if not decades.
On the contrary, the Mann Act is still used occasionally to prosecute those who kidnap women and transport them over state lines, usually to be used in prostitution rings. I've never prosecuted one, though. EBD
Brian Davis writes:
m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally) writes:
... for immoral purposes?
... white wimmin ...
On the contrary ...
Not that I don't wish I could take credit for a discussion thread of such high caliber as this, but I can't; I have no idea how my name got glued on there. ______c_____________________________________________________________________ Mike M Nally * Tivoli Systems * Austin TX * I want more, I want more, m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com * I want more, I want more ... <URL:http://www.io.com/~m101> *_______________________________
On Tue, 30 Jan 1996, Mike McNally wrote:
Brian Davis writes:
m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally) writes:
... for immoral purposes?
... white wimmin ...
On the contrary ...
Not that I don't wish I could take credit for a discussion thread of such high caliber as this, but I can't; I have no idea how my name got glued on there.
I suspect that you had a comment on the thread before it went so far astray and that I screwed up the attributions ... Sorry. EBD
participants (6)
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Brian Davis -
dlv＠bwalk.dm.com -
m5＠dev.tivoli.com -
Rich Graves -
Sandy Sandfort -
Thomas Roessler