Zentastic von Shannon Larratt	December 18th, 2005   11:23
Germany [still] hates BME
Here’s what you get when you search for “bme” in Germany: The note says that they have responded to a legal demand to remove three websites (ie. BME) from the search results. When you click through to the info site, here’s what you get: “A URL that otherwise would have appeared in response to your search, was not displayed because that URL was reported as illegal by a German regulatory body.” This is a process that the German government started back in 1999 (translation). To make a long story short, it is the contention of the German government, I believe incorrectly so, that BME must entirely block underage viewers from seeing anything on the site, and they want ModBlog shut down. Lame. BME is incredibly valuable for readers of all ages. If the German government wants to kid itself into thinking that people under the age of 18 don’t need information on body modification, it’s their hands that become bloody with the results of people who move forward without the opportunity to educate themselves — to say nothing of the political free speech issues. Not that Germany has ever been seen as a bastion of progressive politics.

Source:

www.zentastic.com/entries/200512181123.html

Germany REALLY hates BME!

Yes, it’s true… Germany has decided that BME is an abomination and, as I understand it, has made it illegal to access the site. I do not know what the penalties are, nor do I understand the specifics of the law. It MAY be legal to view BME if you are over 18. It is definitely NOT legal to make BME accessible to people under 18. I would like to ask you to continue viewing, supporting, and linking to BME as an act of civil disobedience, but that’s up to you. Below is the letter which I received, as well as the best translation I could come up with on short notice. You’d think they’d have to courtesy to send me a letter in English! If I didn’t speak enough German to sort-of understand it, I would have just tossed it…

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Look what I got in the mail today:

Cover letter (Auf Deutsch)	Letter of Intent (?) (Auf Deutsch)		Letter of Explanation (In English)

[…]

Footnotes:

1. Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons – Decision No. 6300 of 09.01.2020

Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons

Pr. 0955/2019

Decision No. 6300 of 09.01.2020

The Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Young Persons, in its

744th meeting on 9 January 2020

which was attended by:

From the Review Board:
Chairperson [not named]

as assessors of the group:
Art [not named]
Literature [not named]
Book trade and publishers [not named]
Providers of image media and telemedia [not named]
Voluntary youth welfare organisations [not named]
Public youth welfare organisations Teachers [not named]
Churches, Jewish religious communities [not named]
and other religious communities [not named]

State assessors:
Baden-Württemberg [not named]
Berlin [not named]
Brandenburg [not named]

Protokollführer: [not named]

On behalf of the applicant: [not named]
For the parties to the proceedings: [not named]
decided:

Rochusstraße 10. 53123 Bonn. Telephone: 0228/99962103-10
Postfach 14 01 65. 53056 Bonn. Telefax: 0228/379014

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