Brussels, 30/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 30 March, Germany said that it was against the European Commission proposal simply to block child pornography sites on the internet. It has called for them to be shut down altogether. “The German government rejects internet blocking” because they “don't represent an effective means in fighting child pornography” said German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger in an interview with the daily Hamburger Abendblatt. Child pornography sites should be removed, rather than blocked, she argued, calling for a “broad debate” on the issue. The minister said that blocking child pornography sites would not only be ineffective, it would “lead to greater mistrust on the part of internet users”. On Monday, European Internal Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström presented a draft directive on tackling child exploitation and sexual abuse and child pornography (see EUROPE 10108). One of the measures proposed would require European Union countries to block access to child pornography sites on the internet. “Member states shall take the necessary measures to obtain the blocking of access to internet users in their territory to internet pages containing or disseminating child pornography,” the draft text says. “The blocking of access shall be subject to adequate safeguards, in particular to ensure that the blocking is limited to what is necessary, that users are informed of the reason for the blocking and that content providers, as far as possible, are informed of the possibility of challenging it” the text goes on. The Commission proposal is a move in the right direction, according to NGOs. Completely removing child abuse images from the internet is more desirable than preventing people in some countries from accessing them, they state. “However, authorities in individual countries have no say over whether images hosted on a server in another country are taken down or not. It may, therefore, not always be possible to remove sites,” said Naureen Khan of the UK's National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). Until international cooperation on shutting down sites is 100% effective, blocking must be used as one of the tools in combating online child abuse images, Khan said. (B.C./transl.rt)