Techdirt reports that the German government, armed with a law that has its origin in more captive content (movies -- the kind shown in theatres) and attempting to apply it to the internet (ebook sales).
Heise.de (German) and Boersenblatt (German) reported on Friday and Thursday that the Jugendschutzbehörde (Youth Protection Authority) has handed down a new ruling which extended Germany's Youth Media Protection Law to include ebooks.
As a result of a lawsuit (legal complaint?) over the German erotica ebook Schlauchgelüste (Pantyhose Cravings), the regulators have decided that ebook retailers in Germany can now only sell adult ebooks between 10 pm and 6 am local time (4 pm and midnight, eastern US).
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:48AM
When I first went to Germany in the mid-1980's I was introduced to a large advertisement for a sex shop in the Frankfurt am Main airport. The ad had a fully naked woman, save for the little pasties covering her nipples. Now, if the Germans are unafraid of introducing naked women to little children and not so little in the airport, why are they so concerned about the distribution of fuck novels to them?
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:56AM
Indeed. Are libraries required to hide naughty volumes during daylight hours?
(Score: 1) by epl on Wednesday June 24 2015, @11:51AM
No, but (hardcopy) books have different rules to abide by that eBooks since even though the actual content is the same, the laws aren't because eBooks are now considered "telemedia".
German law differentiates between media on an "index", which is mainly hardcore porn, excessive violence and ultra-right material; this media is considered not suitable for children. As books are less interactive and graphic of nature than movies etc. they can be real/borrowed/bought by children unless they're on this index.
"Telemedia", he afformentioned movies, videogames and now eBooks, are handled differently and may only be sold to people who have reached the according age (categories 6, 12, 16 and 18).
As it's a digital medium ebooks are classed as Telemedia, although there is no difference in content to hardcopies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 24 2015, @07:11AM
Sounds like someone forgot that women have genitals too. Now that's sexist!
(Score: 2) by romlok on Wednesday June 24 2015, @08:15AM
In many countries and cultures, nudity is not considered pornographic in and of itself.
(Score: 1) by jalopezp on Wednesday June 24 2015, @03:37PM
A naked sunbather might not be pornographic in germany, but I'm pretty sure any way you look at it a naked woman wearing pasties and advertising a sex shop would be pretty pornographic.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday June 24 2015, @06:28PM
I disagree - if the advert was shown in an airport then it was probably not what anyone in Europe would consider 'pornographic'. Opinions differ considerably. The subject being advertised might be pornography, but the advert could show a partly clothed woman (pasties etc) without most people even noticing it.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday June 24 2015, @07:35PM
Cf. "partly clothed" vs. "mostly naked"...you have to cover like, what, 5% of your body to be legally clothed on a beach?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"