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