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> but the business people said no Did they not want to be associated with blatant censorship? That sounds pejorative but I mean it literally.

by duaneb 11y ago

mrweasel 11y ago
I think the issue was that you basically can't even allow the Germans know that the games exist. We can't even show the product page and just not all them to buy it. It is blatant censorship, but it's either that or the German government closing down you operations in Germany.
- tormeh 11y ago
  Can you really not tell them about it, or can you just not advertise it? A product page would probably count as advertisement, but an error code is obviously not.
  - mrweasel 11y ago
    We've been asked to remove everything, the games can't even show up in a search result. But you might be right that it's about advertising the product.
    - danielsamuels 11y ago
      > We've been asked to remove everything, the games can't even show up in a search result. Makes me wonder if we should have a robots.txt per locale.
    - chronial 11y ago
      If I correctly guessed what you are talking about (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Department_for_Media_Harmful_to_Young_Persons#The_indexing_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Department_for_Media_H...) then yes, it's about advertising. That law is about protecting minors from getting in contact with material that is deemed highly dangerous for them (e.g. the game "Manhunt" is on that list). Just telling them in the search results might be enough for them to seek out this game and eventually get it. Edit: The law actually clearly states that a shop must not have the game on display anywhere a minor could see it You are by the way the way totally allowed to sell these games. Without any advertising that is. In a classic shop that meant you keep it under the counter and if someone over 18 asks for it by name, you sell it. No idea how that would translate to an online shop. But long story short: It seems very hard to interpret returning 451 to a url the user already has to know in advance as advertising. I am pretty sure that if a minor asks for that game in a store you are also allowed to say "no, you are too young for this" and are not required to lie "what, no, never heard of that" ^^.
      - wtbob 11y ago
        > In a classic shop that meant you keep it under the counter and if someone over 18 asks for it by name, you sell it. No idea how that would translate to an online shop. Wouldn't allowing users to search for the game by name be equivalent?
        chronial 11y ago
        I think the search is more like the shelve.
      - kuschku 11y ago
        > No idea how that would translate to an online shop. That would translate to using the age verification of the eID ;)

> but the business people said no Did they not want to be associated with blatant censorship? That sounds pejorative but I mean it literally.

by duaneb 11y ago

> but the business people said no Did they not want to be associated with blatant censorship? That sounds pejorative but I mean it literally.

mrweasel 11y ago

I think the issue was that you basically can't even allow the Germans know that the games exist. We can't even show the product page and just not all them to buy it. It is blatant censorship, but it's either that or the German government closing down you operations in Germany.

tormeh 11y ago
Can you really not tell them about it, or can you just not advertise it? A product page would probably count as advertisement, but an error code is obviously not.
- mrweasel 11y ago
  We've been asked to remove everything, the games can't even show up in a search result. But you might be right that it's about advertising the product.
  - danielsamuels 11y ago
    > We've been asked to remove everything, the games can't even show up in a search result. Makes me wonder if we should have a robots.txt per locale.
  - chronial 11y ago
    If I correctly guessed what you are talking about (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Department_for_Media_Harmful_to_Young_Persons#The_indexing_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Department_for_Media_H...) then yes, it's about advertising. That law is about protecting minors from getting in contact with material that is deemed highly dangerous for them (e.g. the game "Manhunt" is on that list). Just telling them in the search results might be enough for them to seek out this game and eventually get it. Edit: The law actually clearly states that a shop must not have the game on display anywhere a minor could see it You are by the way the way totally allowed to sell these games. Without any advertising that is. In a classic shop that meant you keep it under the counter and if someone over 18 asks for it by name, you sell it. No idea how that would translate to an online shop. But long story short: It seems very hard to interpret returning 451 to a url the user already has to know in advance as advertising. I am pretty sure that if a minor asks for that game in a store you are also allowed to say "no, you are too young for this" and are not required to lie "what, no, never heard of that" ^^.
    - wtbob 11y ago
      > In a classic shop that meant you keep it under the counter and if someone over 18 asks for it by name, you sell it. No idea how that would translate to an online shop. Wouldn't allowing users to search for the game by name be equivalent?
      - chronial 11y ago
        I think the search is more like the shelve.
    - kuschku 11y ago
      > No idea how that would translate to an online shop. That would translate to using the age verification of the eID ;)