Tonnerre Lombard

FFII’s coordinator for Switzerland

Germany wants stronger age verifications and bans on foreign providers

The German Federal Court of Justice has decided in case Az. I ZR 102/05 that even stronger age verification mechanisms are required for providing access to adult content on the Internet. According to the Federal Court, the current practice of verification of ID card numbers and bank accounts are not sufficient, because any minor could gain access to this information easily.

The court proposes a verification process which involves the local postal delivery services. The deliverer is supposed to verify the age of the future web site user in an eye-to-eye process.

For the various providers of adult content which are not subject to German law, the Federal Court sees the Internet Service Providers in the responsibility to block the web sites in question.