Germany is threatening the New Geocities over a secret censorship list

Since 2005, the German government has been keeping a secret list of websites that it requires be censored from search engines and blocked by router manufacturers. The agency tasked with producing the quarterly list, BPjM (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien, or Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons), is run by unelected officials, and largely free from public scrutiny.

In response to BPjM's secretive powers, an anti-censorship activist, security researcher, and self-described "concerned citizen" decrypted the agency's secret list and published it on Neocities, a 21st century reincarnation of the free web hosting platform site Geocities. Now the German government is threatening to, yes, censor Neocities if it doesn't keep the list off its web hosting service.

After consulting with the activist (who wishes to remain anonymous), Neocities creator Kyle Drake decided to temporarily remove the list of nearly 3,000 URLs while exploring his legal options. But already, as so often happens with censored content, the list multiplied across the internet.

source: Article 'Germany Is Threatening the New Geocities over a Secret Censorship List' by DJ Pangburn; motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/germany-is-threatening-the-new-geocities-over-a-secret-censorship-list; Motherboard; 17 July 2014