German Internet blocking law to be withdrawn

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Deutsch: [Deutsches Netzsperren-Gesetz wird aufgehoben | http://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.7_Deutsche_Netzsperren_werden_aufgehoben]

On 5 April 2011, Germany’s governing conservative and liberal
parties agreed in a coalition committee meeting that the disputed law on
Internet blocking of child abuse material (Zugangserschwerungsgesetz,
ZugErschwG, “Access Impediment Act”) will be dropped.

The law had been enacted by the previous parliament in June 2009, but it had
never been fully implemented after the newly elected coalition decided to
only use the law’s provisions for take-down, not those for blocking. After a
one-year “trial period”, the new consensus seems to be that the law will be
withdrawn through a new act of the Parliament.

There is speculation that the decision could be part of a wider “package
deal” that might see Germany’s data retention revived after the German
Constitutional Court had declared the previous data retention law partly
unconstitutional, but this was denied by speakers for Germany’s liberal
party, FDP. German digital rights groups welcomed the decision on the
blocking law, but they will be watching how it is implemented in detail.

Last EDRi-gram article on Germany’s Internet blocking law, reporting on
the law’s history and a pending constitutional challenge that would be
rendered obsolete if the law is now withdrawn (23.02.2011)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number9.4/germany-constitutional-case-web-blocking

EDRi-gram on the ruling against Germany’s data retention law (10.03.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.5/german-decision-data-retention-unconstitutional

(Contribution by Sebastian Lisken, EDRI member FoeBuD)