Pirate Party Makes Bid for German Parliament
Germany's recently enacted legislation against online child pornography has sparked a new movement, Germany's Pirate Party. But can the champion of the Internet community appeal to a wider audience and survive as a party on the national stage? For Dirk Hillbrecht, 37, a computer crash is normally an affront to his quality of life. Last Thursday, though, the avid Internet user was actually happy when his group's Web site overloaded. Dirk Hillbrecht, head of Germany's Pirate PartyHillbrecht is the chairman of Germany's Pirate Party, which has dedicated itself to fighting online censorship. When the German parliament, the Bundestag, ratified controversial new legislation on blocking certain Web sites, a surge of outraged Internet users temporarily shut down the group's home page. Far from being upset, Hillbrecht was elated. "This shows how much people are interested in the issue," he says. fficially, at least, the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs drafted the legislation to contain child pornography on the Internet. Under the new law, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) will provide lists of Web sites to be blocked. For critics like Hillbrecht, though, the legislation is dangerous. Once the government starts blocking Internet sites, they argue, the censorship threshold will have been breached and Article 5 of Germany's constitution, or Basic Law, which relates to free speech, will have been practically annulled