By John Borland,
A German court ruled Thursday a former head of CompuServe's division there is personally liable for failing to block pornographic pictures that were posted through the online service.
Former executive Felix Somm was charged last year with being an accessory to the dissemination of pornography, after Bavarian investigators were able to access pornography through CompuServe. Many observers had expected Somm to be cleared when prosecutors changed their arguments in the middle of the case, agreeing with defense attorneys that CompuServe could not feasibly have blocked all the disputed material.
But Judge Wilhelm Hubbert ruled Somm was responsible for content accessible through the online service. The Internet is not a "law-free" zone, he said, blasting Somm and his employers for letting children's online welfare "take second place to maximizing profits."
The ruling worried some Internet companies with overseas operations, as they wondered whether the ruling's precedent could be applied to their own business.
"We are surprised and dismayed by the decision of the Bavarian local court," said a spokeswoman for America Online, which now owns CompuServe. The decision "appears to reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the unique character of the Internet and the role of Internet providers," she added.
AOL officials would not comment on whether the decision would immediately affect any of their overseas operations.
Other industry representatives said the decision could keep Net companies from expanding into the German market, for fear they would be found similarly liable for the stream of outside Internet content.
"I think the short-term effects will go a long way to making American Internet service providers take a long look at expanding their operations in Europe," said Brian O'Shaughnessey, director of public policy for the Interactive Services Association, a Washington D.C. group that represents AOL, Microsoft, and other Internet corporations.
"American companies have been very bullish on what the European market has to offer," O'Shaughnessey added. "This is not the death knell for Internet expansion in Europe. But it's definitely a pothole."
The ruling appeared to contradict a German Internet law passed last July, which holds ISPs liable for content accessible through their service if they are aware of the material and if blocking it is feasible. Prosecutors in the case changed their stance after the law's passage, agreeing with defense arguments that Somm and CompuServe could not possibly have blocked all pornographic content.
The German court sentenced Somm to two years of probation and ordered him to pay about $57,000 to charity. Somm's defense attorney said he would appeal the decision.
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