To the webmasters here: Do you post an imprint/impressum?

[Karen]

Kirsten, if you don't have any friends locally that would permit it, and if you are allowed to use a non-German address, you could just put ours down, and we'd happily forward to you any mail you get.

[Kirsten]

Paul and Karen, thank you for your replies and suggestions - and for offering your address!

I did a lot of research meanwhile and as it seems, no other countries have these laws.

And it says clearly that you need to post your primary address, and even telephone number, otherwise they can charge you. I guess by posting fake addresses, or phone numbers, you make it even worse. It's too risky. There are lawyers out there whose only job it is to find websites that counteract these laws. At least this is what I was told, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was true...

We also have such a thing as the com-registry; as an owner of a de-domain, everyone can find your address on denic.de. I can live with that, but it bothers me that they force me to post these infos like my address and phone number on my websites also. IMO, it's a violation of my privacy. Seems there are some organizations here who raise their voice against it, but many Germans don't seem to mind. One even couldn't understand how I can publish personal things such as photos on my pages and on the other hand have problems to publish my address, but IMO, that's a huge difference...

Kirsten

[Moesha]

Kirsten,
Could you post the impressum, like you have done, but have the link on the main page that says "impressum" be the same color as the background? That way it would have a link and be legal, but for anyone to actually find it, they would have to scan their cursor over every inch of the page or look at the source code to see that you've made it the same color as the background?

[Kirsten]

Kirsten,
Could you post the impressum, like you have done, but have the link on the main page that says "impressum" be the same color as the background? That way it would have a link and be legal, but for anyone to actually find it, they would have to scan their cursor over every inch of the page or look at the source code to see that you've made it the same color as the background?

I was thinking about it, but the law says that the link has to be clearly visible for anyone, and easy to find.

And I just learnt another thing: I also have to add an impressum to my little forum as well. Not only that I'm responsible for the content of all posts being posted there, I also have to make my personal information public for everyone to see.

Kirsten

[Paul]

   Wow, I see this law has existed for years. Requiring primary addresses for individuals is bad idea.

   If your webserver were in Switzerland, would the law still apply to you?

   If this were to happen in the US, one option would be to form a legal entity like a simple type of corporation or partnership that would have a different address.

   (Every year newspapers show images of tiny buildings in foreign countries that are listed as the official address for hundreds of real, large, US corporations to legally evade US taxes.)

      Paul

[Kirsten]

If your webserver were in Switzerland, would the law still apply to you?

Yes, it would. What counts is where you live, I guess...

Wish living in Germany wouldn't be so complicated! *sigh* Spent the last three days editing all my pages!

Heard the Austrians have a similar law now.

Kirsten

[Hellow]

I need to have a look at this law, but Paul may be right, if you don't locally host your website or if the web server where your website is is in another country, they probably can't fine you. Again, I will have no clue about what I am saying until I take a look at the law myself.