YouTube under attack by Germany's Thought Police: Two reprts

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

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http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/103852.html

YouTube under fire in Germany
   
Published: 08/28/2007

The Central Council of Jews in Germany has joined the call to punish 
YouTube for failing to remove hate material from its Web site.

YouTube, the online video sharing portal, has been accused of 
spreading neo-Nazi material. According to a report in the ARD 
television magazine, anti-Jewish propaganda from the Third Reich and 
music by the banned neo-Nazi group Landser can be viewed unhindered 
on YouTube.

Such material is illegal in Germany. The report said some of the 
material had been online for several months. The federal Ministry of 
the Interior has recommended filing charges.

German officials reportedly have warned YouTube more than 100 times 
to remove the material but without a response.

The vice president of the German Jewish council, Salomon Korn, has 
asked that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Justice Ministry 
intervene to stop the online publication of offending video clips.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is based in California and thus 
beyond Germany's legal reach. But German officials could come down 
harder on Web companies with operations in Germany.

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUKL2751050320070827

YouTube criticized over Neo-Nazi clips

Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:41PM BST
<http://today.reuters.co.uk/rss/default.aspx>

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Video-sharing Web site YouTube has met with 
harsh criticism in Germany for hosting clips that incite racial 
hatred, according to a news report due to be broadcast on German 
public TV late on Monday.

The videos hosted on YouTube include clips of a 1940 anti-Semitic 
propaganda film "Jud Suess" and two music videos of outlawed German 
far-right rock band Landser, which show footage from World War II 
depicting Nazi military operations.

Report Mainz, which is due to air the program, said in a statement 
that Social Democrat (SPD) parliamentarian Dieter Wiefelspuetz said 
airing the clips on YouTube in Germany was scandalous. Report Mainz 
quoted him as saying: "Publishing these films amounts to aiding and 
abetting incitement of the people."

Report Mainz also said that Germany's Central Council of Jews Vice 
President Salomon Korn was considering pressing charges against 
Google Germany.

According to the statement from Report Mainz, German youth protection 
body Jugendschutz.net has complained to Google Germany more than 100 
times and asked Google, which bought YouTube last year, to remove the 
clips.

Some of the material has been on the site for almost a year.

Google Germany was not immediately available for comment.

More than 60 years after the Holocaust, Germany is grappling with a 
rise in support for Nazi ideas. Neo-Nazi violence in Germany has 
reached its highest level since reunification in 1990.

(Reporting by Nicola Leske)