To be honest, I actually agree with what the Bundestag has done - censoring child porn is so important, and I think every government ought to do it. As for those worried about greater attempts at government censorship, I think they should only take action once pure, hard evidence of that starts to appear. I think protecting our children is truly a worthy cause.

Onur - I agree with you that censoring child porn is hardly a morally bankrupt thing to do. However, where I disagree with you, is waiting for things to happen, then react. On the contary, you have to be ever watching, for creeping state powers. The authorities will always abuse a power they are given, they will always use it for its not intended purpose. It is a simple fact of life. So I actually commend people for always being awake on this issiue, because the EU is trying to set itself up for mass monitoring and control of the inetrnet, they have been probing with various laws. They have been abusing powers they already have. Don't go to sleep on this one!

I'm not sure if the word censorship is the right expression here. It sounds like political censorship which doesn't exist in Germany. The laws wants to protect children from becoming victims of sexual crimes.

Protecting the children should not be the government's job. Children should be protected individually by their parents. Stupid people always feel right at home when government is "helping"

This is a silly idea. Australia has been trying such a scheme - but the list of banned sites was leaked and found to have many innocent websites or sites that were simply critical of the government and had no child porn whatsoever i.e. the system was compromised before it even started. The peddlers of kiddie porn will simply move around many web sites using dynamic addressing, so a fixed list will be impossible to maintain up to date. In the meantime, individuals and organisations unfortunate enough to have their website hosted by a company that has also hosted kiddie porn will find their website blocked. There are relatively simple means to avoid such filters, often used to obtain and share political information in countries where democracy is unpopular. There are many other methods in which this filth can be distributed for which web filters will have no effect. The authorites should concentrate on identifying those involved in creating such material and their victims.

I agree with Onur. I think it is important to protect our children, in doing so, if a few porn site companies that aren't necessarily displaying child pornography get shut down, then I believe it's worth the risk. Our children are the future! In remembering that, I think it is crucial to keep them out of harms way and teach them that it is imperative to take action when people are participating in illegal activities. Knowing about it and doing nothing is just as wrong as doing it ourselves.