Massey, CEO of Compuserve, on Internet

[Peter D. Junger]

Michael Handler writes:

: On Fri, 29 Dec 1995, Timothy C. May wrote:
: 
: > Wow! I am watching the CEO of Compuserve being interviewed on CNBC,
: > explaining how his company is "taking the high road by complying with the
: > laws of Germany" in removing access to 200 Usenet groups.
: 
: A blatant lie.

[Material deleted]

: CompuServe is starting to look worse and worse in this thing.  I'm
: still waiting for the real story.  Here is an excerpt from a story on the
: AP:
:  
:        <stuff deleted>
:    Munich prosecutor Manfred Wick confirmed Friday that Bavarian state
: police investigators searched CompuServe's networks and computers last
: month for child pornography, but he would not say what they found.
:    "We didn't threaten them with charges," Wick said.
:    Arno Edelmann, a CompuServe product manager in Unterhaching,
: Germany, said Friday that the company blocked access to 200
: sex-oriented newsgroups in a portion of the Internet called Usenet.
:    "It is perhaps an overreaction but we want to cooperate with the
: Bavarian prosecutor's office," Edelmann said.
:        <stuff deleted>
: [ end ]
: 
: And herein lie the pitfalls of trying to establish a global ISP
: presence.
: 

One should also notice that Bavaria is only one state in the German
Federal Republic; this case is more like Texas investigating
Compuserve than the United States federal government investigating
Compuserve.  Bavaria is the stronghold of what can properly be called
the (Catholic) Religious Right in Germany.  It should also be noticed
that in general German publications and television seem to be less
constrained in publishing materials that in the United States would be
called ``indecent'' by some than are United States publications and 
broadcasters.

--
Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
Internet:  junger at pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu    junger at samsara.law.cwru.edu