CompuServe Inc has reinstated most of its news groups but is continuing development of its regional censoring software in case the Germans are still unhappy. CompuServe halted worldwide access to 200 sexually-oriented news groups at the beginning of the year when German authorities suggested that access to these fora was illegal under German law. At the time, CompuServe said it would work on a way of discriminating between regions (CI No 2,820). Since then, all news groups have been reinstated with the exception of five groups that Felix Somm, managing director of CompuServe’s German unit, said Bavarian prosecutors had identified as containing child pornography or material dangerous to minors. CompuServe has added the filtering software, Cyber Patrol, in the hope that this will mollify the Germans. A statement from CompuServe’s chief executive said We are confident that parental controls will meet any requirements under German law. However, while the company now believes it has covered itself, German authorities are unimpressed. The Bavarian justice ministry told Reuter that the Cyber Patrol software was insufficient. Parental control filters would be capable of blocking objectionable material, it said, but CompuServe had a legal obligation not to supply illegal material to German citizens. It cannot be allowed that every bookstore that distributes child pornography is investigated, but that the on- line services aren’t, the Ministry said. CompuServe said it would continue trying to find a way of making the WinCIM Windows CompuServe Information Manager capable of discriminating users by the region they come from and doctor their access accordingly. It was unable, however, to say whether or how soon such provision was likely to occur. CompuServe, owned by Kansas City-based financial group H&R Block Inc, is the second largest on-line service, with 4.2m subscribers.
