German registrar bans autopsy Web site

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS
A domain name registrar in Germany has deleted the registration for a gruesome US-based online photo gallery that featured stomach-wrenching images from autopsies and medical procedures. Computer Service Langenbach, which operates the Joker.com registrar in Dusseldorf, Germany, yanked the Ogrish.com domain name from its database this week in response to a request from a German prosecutor, said the hosting service and the owner of the site Tuesday. "I've never heard of a case where a registrar can disable a domain over content," said Ted Hickman, who runs Virginia-based ProHosters.com. "I certainly won't be registering any domains at Joker.com...We'll host anything that's legal in the US. It's not our job to determine whether content is acceptable to others." Neither Computer Service Langenbach nor the German embassy in Washington responded to inquiries. A search on the domain Ogrish.com in the Whois database lists it as "disabled by government". Hickman provided a copy of the email from Joker.com that said that domain was taken offline "by order of Staatsanwaltschaft Dusseldorf", the public prosecutor's office. If a German government office did order the domain removed, this would be another case of the global Internet running up against national laws, which in Germany can be unusually restrictive. In October 2001, the Dusseldorf government ordered local Internet providers to block access to four US Web sites, including shock site Rotten.com. In October 2000, the Chicago Board of Elections won a court order shutting down VoteAuction.com, a Web site in Austria that claimed to allow Americans to trade their votes in the presidential elections that year. It soon popped up under the new name Vote-auction.com. "The German government has shut Ogrish.com -- one of the biggest shock Internet sites around -- down through Joker.com," Dan Klinker, the founder of Sterling, Virginia-based Ogrish.com, said in an email message on Tuesday. "Ogrish.com is currently being hosted on Ogrish.prohosters.com." In hopes of finding a more free-speech-friendly locale, Klinker said he has tried to transfer the domain away from Joker.com to a US registrar but the transfer has not taken place yet. Chuck Gomes, a vice president at VeriSign, which runs the dot-com registry, said he was not familiar with the Ogrish.com dispute but the transfer could be in the middle of the standard five-day process. If Joker.com refused to comply with the transfer request, Gomes said, "We would only take (such) a step if there was some violation of the terms of the agreement that we have with the registrar. We wouldn't unilaterally take it away from them." "Joker.com's dealings with its customers are basically governed by the usual rules that govern business dealings," said a spokeswoman for the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which licenses registrars including Joker.com. "So it can permit or deny the transfer between registrants, if that's permitted by its contract and the applicable law." Ogrish.com became briefly infamous in May 2002 when it posted the 4-minute video of reporter Daniel Pearl being brutally murdered. ProHosters.com deleted the video after legal threats from the FBI, then restored it after the American Civil Liberties Union came to its aid.
For everything Internet-related, from the latest legal and policy-related news, to domain name updates, see ZDNet UK's Internet News Section. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Talkback

Thank GOD!!! about a year ago, a friend told me opf a simmilar site... but left out major details. I'd seen disturbing images of horrific ends to a persons existence. I saw a man hit by a subway... an open stomach full of styrafoam... and my cousin tells me of a man with fecies falling out of his head. Luckily, I was with a friend, wich greatly softend the blow... Getting rid of ogrshi is a god start, but we have ways to go. The web site I'd been speaking of is still up and running from what I know, and a video series, Faces of Death, somtimes keeps me from sleeping at night. I understand why these pictures may be used for educational purposes, but publicly displaying the death of a human being, someones son, someones daughter, someones husband, someones wife, someones father, someones mother... and people, no... monsters laugh at these and react to them as jokes. It's sick, twisted, illegal, and evil... and it needs to stop.

via Facebook 17 October, 2003 23:00
Reply

well s people mostly do they gto there just deserts i connected to mysql port 3306 using root, which they didnt password protect and i wiped there DB's clean.

via Facebook 20 April, 2004 19:44
Reply

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

JCB33

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

19 minutes ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany
Moley

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

2 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
greycynic

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

3 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity
GrueMaster

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

4 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Frederick Wrigley

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

5 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
bdantas

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

5 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

6 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Alan Ralph

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

6 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material
Moley

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

7 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
ramwellian

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

7 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?
BugStalker

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

7 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB
whs001

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

7 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Moley

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

8 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
45283

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

11 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA
Burn-IT

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

12 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs
ewallace

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

12 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions
fgvrg56

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

13 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?
Ben Woods

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

14 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
Marcus Karlsson

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

15 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule
apexwm

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

24 hours ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility