Slashdot Mirror


Germany Wants To Put Time Limits On Porn

nappster writes: "According to this article (sorry, it's in German), Germany thinks it can control the Internet, so now it's considering requiring that porn sites restrict their hours to 11pm to 6am. Exactly how they will coerce sites operating outside Germany is not explained, hence the term 'imbecility' that some have used to describe this proposal." Swim through the German with the Fish.

15 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. Time zones? by carpe_noctem · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, will american porn sites be required to shut down outside of Germany's specified "porn times"? Or just filter all traffic into Germany Communist-China-style?

    --
    "Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
    1. Re:Time zones? by thebigbadme · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As far as filtering and time zones go:
      The world has twenty-four timezones; if, by some messed up sort of complete world agreement, Germany begot enforcement from other countries would it be enforced on a continual twenty-four basis? Or would everyone need to filter access at their different, local, times (five hours earlier with eastern standard time, etc)?
      This is of course all hypothetical as we all know all world countries interested in filtering pr0n will insist on world enforcement of their own, unique, anti-freedom laws. I mean come on, can anyone see the French in agreance with any law that the United States would ever try to persue?
      /philosophy

      --
      "It's the Law of the Universe, and I'm the sheriff." Slash-cott 2/10-2/17
  2. Which is worse? by JTinMSP · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Dunno, at least it's not the "we're saving the kids, so you have to fork over your credit card" scam that the U.S. Congress enabled.

    --
    I was led to this place, a place I can't understand. A place that demands my belief just as strongly as my disbelie
    1. Re:Which is worse? by JTinMSP · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But the problem is the scrupulous use of the credit card information... And forgery of said information as it's only for "age verification". You can get into a pandora's box here with sites charging a few cents for stuff, or giving "free" access to that site, but nailing you for $29.99 a month for a different site in a very very deeply hidden clause of the "terms of service". It's yet another case of goverment trying to do the parents job.

      --
      I was led to this place, a place I can't understand. A place that demands my belief just as strongly as my disbelie
  3. Re:Here's the reason by Teun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's where we Europeans as a whole differ from North Americans; what German TV is showing at night time is not realy concidered porn over here, OK, the label Soft-Porn is often used but say in Holland, Italy or Denmark you could possible air a minute of that stuff at prime time without getting complaints.

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  4. Did anybody read the article? by JohanV · · Score: 3, Insightful
    My German isn't that good, but I believe that the fragment falls keine "Vor- und Freisperrtechniken" installiert sind translates roughly to if no access controls are implemented (please correct me if I am wrong, but Babel Fish is as useless as usual).

    Bypassing the technical/political/legal issues (I think we all agree on the feasibility of this proposition) I believe that it is a good thing if a country limits access to sexual oriented online content in accordence with the law IRL. And as I say in accordance with the law IRL this naturally implies that the law should not have any extraterritorial effects.
    If the Germans wish to limit uncontrolled daytime access to sexually oriented content located on servers on German territory they have my blessing.

  5. Stupidity by whanau · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You gotta admit this is the ultimate in stupidity - I can have sex
    24 hrs a day whenever I want, but I can't watch others between a
    certain time. WTF?

  6. Germany != China by BadDoggie · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Why is it that when Orrin Hatch or some other idiot Congressman wants to "Make The Internet Safe For Children (TM)", the story reads "Hatch's Latest Numbnuts Idea: Nekkid Chickflesh 10pm-5am Only", but when an equally synaptically-challenged German politician says something equally stupid and unworkable, the headline is "Germany Wants to Control Net"? The US does NOT have a monopoly on idiots in government.

    You also don't seem to realise that when they're talking about pr0n in Germany, they mean hardcore, as in "penetration". There's nekkid tits on all kinds of magazines, on TV ads, on billboards.

    Of course the idea is unworkable, as are most politicians' ideas whenever they wat to "protect" people from themselves. This too shall pass. Move along. Nothing to see here.

    woof.

    Have you ever noticed that when someone wants a restrictive law, it's always a restriction on someone else? The inevitable excuse is always that someone *else* is being "protected". You and I are smart enough and capable enough to take care of ourselvesand our families, but those other people need protection from themselves.

  7. Re:My great fear... by HeUnique · · Score: 3, Insightful

    1. Use Squid from another country...

    2. I'm pretty sure that if Germany will do that, then many porn web sites will simply move their servers to another country (and with today's situation, I'm sure that many ISP will be happy to host those sites)

    --
    Hetz (Heunique)
  8. Re:My great fear... by brunes69 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It is far more likely that over the next century, the vast majority of the world will share a common view of what is deemed "acceptable". Look realisticly at the trends in globalization, and look at how amazingly homogenous the worls has become in only a VERY short time of world trade (since say, the 50's). I believe we are progressing to a global society much faster than most people realize, and the laws of any one particular nation (with the exception of the United States, whose laws apply everywhere in the world, merely because of its military and economic might) have become increasingly irrelivant as distances and time zones mean nothing in terms of technology. I believe that we are rapidly approaching the need for a true world govenment. Now, weather this means that in the end the US will dictate world policy, or weather the UN will gain alot more power, I am unsure of.

  9. Some background on this... by gloth · · Score: 2, Insightful

    In Germany, movies with age restrictions may be shown on TV only on certain times. This means that, while nudity is genenrally acceptable, soft porn is not broadcast on the afternoon. Gory violence isn't either (unless it's a comic strip, but that's a different issue altogether).

    So what happened here was that some clueless bureaucrates/politicians made the suggestion that this scheme should be applied to internet content as well.

    If you read the acticle, you'll find that this suggestion is called everything from silly to unpractical to ridiculous from pretty much everyone else: (more clued) members of the government, the opposition, the businesses, etc.

    The short of it is: some people had a stupid idea, it's not gonna happen, have your good laught at it and move on with life.

  10. How would this work? by theKiyote · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you think about it, time wouldnt really matter. A porn company from germany would be making the service available for people all around the world, the Internet isn't just located in Germany, and at one point or another it will BE 11:00pm - 6:00am somewhere in the world. It would be kind of narrow minded to think that the only people who look at German porn live in Germany. --theKiyote

  11. If that's the case... by ColGraff · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...then what are you doing posting to slashdot?

    --
    I'm the stranger...posting to /.
  12. Re:Isn't it odd so many people get upset about por by Saeger · · Score: 3, Insightful
    It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand why violience is more socially acceptable than porn (the world over, but especially in the puritanical US).

    BOTH serve to ensure our survival: Violence "prepares" our warriors, and Sex propogates the genes of the warriors who survived. BOTH are pleasurable, but the former in groups, and the latter privately (for reasons of feared inadequacy and religious indoctrination).

    Anyway, the "scientific" reason why porn takes a backseat to violence is because of "Bigger Dick Theory (BDT)." It states that porn embarrasses chicks and pencil dicks, but that violience (and cars!) increases dick length (gun!). :-)

    --
    Power to the Peaceful
  13. According to "Ask Marilyn"... by coyote-san · · Score: 3, Insightful

    According to an issue of "Ask Marilyn" that I really wish I had kept, violence is acceptable because "everyone knows it was faked," while sex is not because it's real.

    I initially thought she was refering to penetration, which is a bit hard to fake in quality porn, then I remembered that this was a Sunday supplement and she was probably refering to nudity in a mass market movie.

    Either way, it begs the question of why anyone would try to equate the reality of violence with sex. Call me crazy, but I actively seek to get laid (the "most extreme" sexual act) most days, but I can't think of the last time I tried to get punched (one of the "least extreme" violent acts). It really makes me wonder about her... yet that's a common perception out in Middle America.

    --
    For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken