Censorship Issues in Germany

Germany is always facing new challenges in the way of Internet content and its own globalization concerns. The issue of Germany and VPN necessity may seem irrelevant at first glance. True, Germany is not as restrictive as China or Iran when it comes to Internet censorship. Still, the country is regulated by some heavy precedents. These include past court decisions that censor invasion of privacy content, as well as movie ratings for “youth protection”, and certain laws against publications, which can be censored in some cases.

In fact, Germany has an entire department setup for protection of young people, the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons. While strong content is not illegal many companies and ISPs may actually decide themselves to remove offensive content or remove Internet access to some sites. Naturally, anything Nazi-related is illegal in Germany, as well as any incitement of hatred against a segment of the population.

While all of this seems reasonable, there are persistent stories floating around that Germany may take a harder approach to Internet censorship. If this is true, Germany VPN services may drastically increase. Internet censorship laws are being discussing among German social democrats and conservative party members. Some of these discussions are merely discussing the blocking of child pornography sites. However, the implications of this “censorship architecture” is sending many hackers, activists, bloggers and social media users into a frenzy. There was even an e-petition that was launched and directed at the German parliament—a massive show of support, with 50,000 signatures. By the sixth week, the movement had over 130,000 followers.

Activists claim that total censorship is an “easy and dangerous way out” and that there are other ways to eliminate child pornography from the Internet that does not endanger freedom of speech and surfing in Germany. Protestors state that such strong censorship precedents could easily move from child pornography into other “questionable” sites, including gambling sites, Islamist sites, violent video games, music downloads and social media sites.

The developments of censorship in Germany have yet to be seen. However, German VPN services may be needed if restrictions were to grow. Beyond this threat, however, lay another issue: anonymous and secure web surfing that is faster than the norm. If you live in Germany or travel to Germany, having a server based in this country would allow you secure and anonymous access to Internet sites across the globe.

Why not inquire about Germany VPN services today?