In a move that could be a test case in the power of public authorities to regulate the global computer network, Bavarian prosecutors said the Compuserve manager was being charged with aiding in the distribution of child pornography. Compuserve officials in Munich said the company was preparing a statement to be issued later in the day. The indictment was issued on Feb. 26 but was not made public until Wednesday. The announcement does not name the Compuserve executive who has been indicted but the managing director of Compuserve's German subsidiary is Felix Somm. The charges follow an investigation that began at the end of 1995, when prosecutors forced Compuserve to shut down access to more than 200 Internet news groups, some of which were suspected of displaying pornographic images of children.
Child pornography is illegal in Germany.
Despite widespread doubts about the liability of online services for content on their network, the Bavarian prosecutors believe such services should be held responsible when writings or images outlawed in Germany but on computers somewhere else in the world are made accessible to Germans through the Internet. The prosecutors said the charges raised against the Compuserve director include violations of youth protection laws and laws against child pornography. They cited transmission of images of violent sex, sex with children and sex with animals, which the prosecutors said the Compuserve manager could have prevented from being distributed over the company's network in Germany. The indictment also includes charges against the Compuserve executive for allowing a computer game to be transmitted over the company's network that includes photographs of Adolf Hitler and Nazi party symbols such as the swastika, which are not allowed to be displayed publicly in Germany.