Additional Protocol to the Convention on Cybercrime concerning the
Criminalisation of Acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through
computer systems, Text
Article 3 – Dissemination of racist and xenophobic material through
computer systems
1. Each Party shall adopt such legislative and other measures as may be
necessary to establish as criminal offences under its domestic law, when
committed intentionally and without right, the following conduct:
distributing, or otherwise making available, racist and xenophobic
material to the public through a computer system.
Explanatory Report Nr. 28.
“Distribution” refers to the active dissemination of racist and
xenophobic material, as defined in Article 2 of the Protocol, to others, while
“making available” refers to the placing on line of racist and xenophobic
material for the use of others. This term also intends to cover the creation or
compilation of hyperlinks in order to facilitate access to such material.
2. Spamming
Referral logs of weblogs have become a new target for spam. They are
stuffed with bogus links to pornography or advertising sites:
According to the the Federal Trade Commission search
engines need to mark paid listings. I will deal with that subject in one of my
next uploads and ad a new section with links to news reports and legal analysis.
4. State Department Link
Until a reporter inquired about it,
the State Department Website had provided a link to a Republican National
Committee Website despite federal laws prohibiting government resources from
being used for partisan purposes.
German opposition party CDU has been sued by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
because of its use of the song “Aserejè“ by Spanish group Las Ketchup in
its political campaigns. A link on their website leads to a MP3-file which
features the song with new German lyrics. The song ridicules the government.