Germany to Outlaw Shooter Games?
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After a school shooting, lawmakers in Bavaria and Lower Saxony consider banning violent video games. In Game|Life.
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Leading German lawmakers demanded a  crackdown on violent computer and simulated war games on  Tuesday over concerns that they may have helped inspire a young  man to attack his former school with guns and explosives.
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(InfoWorld) - When it comes to who can and who can't be a hacker, the German government appears to want its cake and eat it, too. AfterÂ passing antihacking legislationÂ earlier this year to crack down on the sharp rise in computer attacks in the public and private sectors, the government is now floating a plan to develop and smuggle its own spyware on to the hard drives of suspected terrorists through e-mail messages. German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble has been feverishly seeking support for a new security law that would allow federal authorities to investigate suspects' Internet use and stored data without their knowledge, ever since the country's Federal Court of JusticeÂ halted their cybersnooping activitiesÂ in February. The judges argued that the hacking of computers by the police is not permitted under Germany's strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance. SchÃ¤uble's efforts to introduce a security law with wider police surveillance powers have, however, led to a heated debate that nearly exploded late last week when a copy of the proposed security law was leaked to the German media. The measure would allow authorities to install Trojans carrying remote forensic software on suspects' hard drives. While SchÃ¤uble has said that government cyberspying would only be conducted in a handful of exceptional cases and only on those suspected of planning terrorist attacks, critics say he may have overstepped his bounds. Max Stadler, a security expert with the German Free Democratic Party, warned in a ZDF television interview last week that the Interior Ministry's spyware plan would weaken the trust of German citizens in government. He referred to the government Trojan as "an invasion into the private sphere." Magnus Kalkuhl, a virus specialist at the German office of Russian security software vendor Kaspersky Lab, said the plan "would undermine the very purpose of security software, which is to plug -- not make -- security holes." The idea of allowing officials in one specific country to snoop also disturbs Kalkuhl. "What's going to prevent police in Germany from breaking into computers in Italy?" he asked. And even if the government approves the use of spyware, Wolfgang Wieland, a member of the Green Party, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper last week that he questions the success of a measure that assumes suspects know little about computers and won't detect and remove Trojans and other spyware. It's naive to believe that terrorists, who live in a world of conspiracy, would trip over something as obvious as e-mail from an unfamiliar source, he said. In defense of the plan, SchÃ¤uble said in an interview with Deutschlandradio last week that police need to keep pace with terrorists and criminals, who shouldn't be allowed to use cyberspace as a protected area. The plan, he said, isn't to control everyone's computer but rather only those machines used by suspected criminals and terrorists and only for a limited period of time. JÃ¶rg Ziercke, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), said in an interview with the German magazine Stern that the planned remote forensic software can't be used broadly because it must be tailored to run on each targeted computer. "We're talking about 10 such measures a year," he said. The German government has released no technical details of how the sypware will operate. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry declined to comment, citing security regulations. The use of spyware by crime fighters isn't new. For instance, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation uses a tool, called CIPAV (computer and Internet Protocol address verifier), which can record IP addresses and send this data back to government computers. Nor is Germany the only European country debating spyware legislation. Neighboring Switzerland and Austria are reportedly considering laws that will give police greater powers to monitor computers online. Neither of the countries has released any information on their spyware plans. No firm date is set when German parliamentarians are expected to vote on the proposed security law. But with Islamic radicals targeting German troops and others working in Afghanistan in recent weeks, SchÃ¤uble has spoken of a heightened threat level that makes the spyware issue of increasing urgency. Â
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On Tuesday, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) announced that it had banned the sale of Manhunt 2, a video game produced by Rockstar Games.
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China's online games industry fears it could be in line for a clampdown similar to one hurting providers of mobile messaging services.
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Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. said Thursday it was temporarily suspending the release of the violent title "Manhunt 2" because of an ongoing ratings controversy in the United States and a ban in Britain and Ireland.
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Campaigners fighting to outlaw cluster munitions in Switzerland say a partial ban approved by both houses of parliament does not go far enough. On Wednesday the Senate followed the House of Representatives in adopting a ban on "unreliable" cluster munitions, which would allow the country to keep its arsenal largely intact. But the move stops short of the blanket ban sought by the Swiss branch of Handicap International and dozens of other non-governmental organizations in Switzerland, including Amnesty International.
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Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries proposed Tuesday to toughen Germany's anti-terrorism laws by making it a crime to train for an attack or to obtain weapons or other substances in order to carry out an attack
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John Reid says 'do as we say' Franco Frattini, the reactionary EU commissioner leading a campaign against violent and "perverse" video games, is expected to push for the UK's ratings laws to be applied across Europe.â¦
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Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday proposed the state ban the sale and rental of violent and sexually explicit video games for children under 18, a restriction that has failed so far elsewhere in the country.
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Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warns plans for a European anti-missile system in the Czech Republic and Poland may trigger a new arms race.Comment
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Video game publisher Take-Two  Interactive Software Inc. said on Thursday it has suspended  plans to sell &quot;Manhunt 2&quot; after the title was slapped with  restrictive ratings for its extreme violence.
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The makers of a violent video game set in an ayslum for the criminally insane have suspended its release after a howl of outrage from some European nations which have already banned &quot;Manhunt 2.&quot;
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Violent video games are once again under the microscope following a shooting at a German school, in which a teenager with an apparent fondness for war simulations and violent video games wounded as many as 37 people before taking his own life.
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Germany's federal states plan to ban  Internet gambling, according to draft documents to be discussed  by the country's state premiers on Wednesday, a newspaper  reported on Tuesday.
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Germany's justice minister plans to extend the country's anti-terror laws. In the future, preparing an attack or receiving explicit training for a violent act will be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The worldwide threat of terrorist attacks includes Germany, according to the country's Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries. "We cannot exclude a terrorist attack in our country," Zypries told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday, Sept. 18. "As regrettable as this realization is, it is unfortunately by no means new."
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'Incompatible with community principles' Italy cannot use criminal law to stop gaming companies licensed in another EU nation from taking bets in the country, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled Tuesday. Italian restrictions are incompatible with Community principles, the court said.â¦