Interestingly, from the comments above, it appears that Germany has laws which, in many respects are similar to Russia’s (not quite that they require registration, but they do seem to prohibit anonymity, by requiring bloggers to publish their address). I suspect a lot of European countries have similarly odd and seemingly ‘restrictive’ clauses in their laws somewhere that might apply to blogs.

Our post says nothing about bloggers being held responsible for their content in a proper libel action. It discusses a new policy that bloggers be required to REGISTER with the government if they dare to engage in news reporting, as a newspaper must do. There is no such requirement in the United States (both Publius Pundit and La Russophobe freely report the news without registration) nor, I believe, in any civilized country. The linked-to article clearly states: “Two local Web sites have been punished for failing to register as media outlets.” They were not punished for their content, they were punished for failing to comply with bureaucratic requirements they didn’t even know about.

For your information, blogger Rachmankov, who called President Putin a “phallic symbol,” was not sued by Putin for libel. Instead, he was sued by a government agency for breaking regulations that control political speech in an effort to silence him. All bloggers ought to stand in solidarity with Rachmankov, for they may be next.

Frankly, I find it both surprising and disappointing that a blogger would take the side of the government in such a dispute, particularly a government with such a sordid reputation on freedom of speech as Russia. Also a bit disappointing that the article in quesiton wasn’t reviewed a bit more carefully before conclusions were drawn — that is often the cause of “confusion.”

Yep, again I agree. Let’s see what happens when “capitalism” gets involved. If you have a look at e.g. China with its booming Internet market you’ll see how many companies and providers try to get a foothold.

If you were the CEO of such a company, what would you do when having to act in regard of your shareholders ? Would you practice “democracy” or would you “sacrifice” a blogger or two when the “government” forces you to decide whether to “cooperate” or to be locked out (out of the market) ?

Pekunia non olet ?

I agree in the case of a government against bloggers within the country in question. But unless every government unites in its opposition to bloggers, provided at least one country is prepared to host webservers without interfering with the content, then the bloggers will always have a platform.

This is why the US has made sure the UN doesn’t get its mitts on the IP allocation system, currently controlled by the US: many Americans, ever the paranoid about governments bodies, see it as an attempt to regulate the internet on a global scale.

It’s a bit like tax havens, in a way. Provided one country is willing to provide a tax free savings vehicle, there is not a great deal any other country can do about it.

I predict a lot of clumsy, cack-handed attempts by governments to regulate online content over the next decade, only to see their attempts thwarted by computer geeks who are always one step ahead. I for one will be on the side of the geeks. I’m a blogger, and I generally detest governments.

Although Germany is definitly not a “rogue state” I’ve still put that “legal disclaimer” on my blog. You never know who might come up with something … and once you’re trapped between the mill-stones … oh well.

The problem they’d have with WordPress is that you can host it on a private server. If Germany, or any other state, started closing down anonymous blogs and hounding their hosting providers, a market would pop up within minutes which would guarantee anonymous hosting. All the German authorities could do is put up a firewall to prevent people in Germany reading certain sites, and anyone who’s lived in the Middle East will tell you how popular or successful that is.

Depends on what “Gesetzbuch” you apply …

Handelsgesetzbuch: “Unternehmen” = company
Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch: “Unternehmen” = undertaking.

Anyway … one single commercial ad on a blog and this blog is a “company” making money.

Should the e.g. German “Mediengesetz” apply on blogs, anonmyously written blogs would per se be illegal as (legal) “Media” are required to have an “Impressum”, i.e. are obliged to openly name those wo are responsible for the content (owner, editors ….) and have to publish their “Gerichtsstand” (legal residence) ….

I doubt that any public proscecutor e.g. in Germany would face any difficulties to have companies like Google or WordPress give the data desired (regarding a blogger). Some years ago the general manager of Compuserve Germany was ordered to remove contens of a Compuserve hosted website. He said he couldn’t as the site was hosted by an US based server.

The judge didn’t care and sentenced the guy to (IIRC) 2 years in prison. Well, the guy actually never went to jail as the judge’s ruling was “overpowered” by a superior court but the website disappeared anyway.

Never say never …