ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Boston Globe
Four million CompuServe customers have been locked out of sexually explicit portions of the Internet, by order of prosecutors in Germany.
An official of the Ohio-based online computer service described the move as ``just a temporary suspension.'' But it has infuriated Internet users and civil libertarians in the United States, while drawing praise from an anti-pornography activist. The incident also illustrates the unexpected problems that can arise when national governments try to regulate international computer networks.
CompuServe has about 200,000 customers in Germany. The company offers its own menu of online services, as well as access to the worldwide Internet. CompuServe places some limits on the materials it allows on its own services, but the company does not censor Internet materials.
The trouble began Nov. 23, when the Munich police and prosecutor's office launched an investigation of materials that were available on the Internet via CompuServe.
They were particularly concerned about the Usenet, an Internet service that acts as a worldwide bulletin board. There are more than 15,000 ``newsgroups'' or sections on the Usenet, covering a vast number of subjects. Dozens of the newsgroups contain explicit sexual materials, including child pornography.
Munich officials picked about 200 newsgroups that contained materials they considered offensive. A CompuServe spokeswoman in Munich said no legal action was taken against CompuServe. But prosecutors ordered the service to stop distributing the material in Munich.
CompuServe's entire network, however, is run from server computers at its headquarters in Columbus. ``Right now, we don't possess any technology where we can block access in Germany and leave it open in France or anywhere else,'' said CompuServe spokeswoman Daphne Kent.
CompuServe could comply with the demands only by removing the newsgroups from its service altogether, which it did Dec. 23.
CompuServe is still negotiating with German authorities, and Kent said some banned groups may be restored. He said CompuServe is investigating new software or hardware systems that would let it limit customer access to the Internet, depending on the laws in a particular country.
It didn't take long for American users to miss their favorite newsgroups, and some were enraged. ``Germany trying to tell everybody else what to do, again?'' wrote one customer.
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