CompuServe Censors Newsgroups

On Thursday, December 28th, 1995, CompuServe Inc. decided to suspend access to 200 Internet newsgroups that were considered “pornographic.” This move was made due to pressure from the German government to limit public access to the Internet.

There is terrific risk that Germany, which is known for banning of books and materials deemed inappropriate will expand the list of banned newsgroups to include political and historical groups. It is reported that the German government told CompuServe to block member access to the offending newsgroups. CompuServe does not have the technical ability to only ban these materials from Germany and therefore decided to ban access to every CompuServe user. Supposedly, each of the banned newsgroups was identified as illegal under German criminal law.

The following is a list of all the Usenet groups censored by Compuserve on Friday, December 29, without notice.

(This list was provided by an employee of CompuServe.)

1. alt.binaires.pictures.erotica.teen
2. alt.binaries.erotic.senior-citizens
3. alt.binaries.multimedia.erotica
4. alt.binaries.pictures.black.erotic.females
5. alt.binaries.pictures.erotic.anime
6. alt.binaries.pictures.erotic.centerfolds
7. alt.binaries.pictures.erotic.senior-citizens
8. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica
9. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.amateur.d
10. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.amateur.female
11. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.amateur.male
12. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.animals
13. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.anime
14. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.art.pin-up
15. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.balls
16. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bears
17. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bestiality
18. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.black.females
19. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.black.male
20. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.blondes
21. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.bondage
22. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.breasts
23. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.butts
24. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.cartoons
25. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.cheerleaders
26. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.d
27. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.disney
28. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female
29. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.female.anal
30. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish
31. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.feet
32. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.hair
33. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.latex
34. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.fetish.leather
35. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.furry
36. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.gaymen
37. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.latina
38. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.male
39. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.male.anal
40. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.midgets
41. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.oral
42. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.orientals
43. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.plushies
44. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pornstar
45. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pornstars
46. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teen
47. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pregnant
48. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.redheads
49. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.spanking
50. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.tasteless
51. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen
52. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.d
53. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.female
54. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.fuck Teens
55. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.teen.male Teens
56. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.terry.agar
57. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.transvestites
58. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.uncut
59. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.urine
60. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.voyeurism
61. alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.young
62. alt.binaries.pictures.groupsex
63. alt.binaries.pictures.lesbians
64. alt.binaries.pictures.lolita.misc
65. alt.binaries.pictures.nude.celebrities
66. alt.binaries.sounds.erotica
67. alt.homosexual
68. alt.magick.sex
69. alt.magick.sex.angst
70. alt.motss.bisexua-l
71. alt.politics.sex
72. alt.recovery.addiction.sexual
73. alt.recovery.sexual-addiction
74. alt.religion.sexuality
75. alt.sex
76. alt.sex.aliens
77. alt.sex.anal
78. alt.sex.animals
79. alt.sex.asphyx
80. alt.sex.balls
81. alt.sex.bears
82. alt.sex.bestiality
83. alt.sex.bestiality.barney
84. alt.sex.bestiality.hamster.duct-tape
85. alt.sex.bondage
86. alt.sex.bondage.furtoonia
87. alt.sex.bondage.sco.unix
88. alt.sex.boredom
89. alt.sex.boys
90. alt.sex.breast
91. alt.sex.brothels
92. alt.sex.carasso
93. alt.sex.children
94. alt.sex.cthulhu
95. alt.sex.disney
96. alt.sex.doom.with-sound
97. alt.sex.dylan
98. alt.sex.enemas
99. alt.sex.erotica.market.place
100. alt.sex.erotica.marketplace
101. alt.sex.escorts.ads
102. alt.sex.escorts.ads.d
103. alt.sex.exhibitionism
104. alt.sex.extropians
105. alt.sex.fat
106. alt.sex.femdom
107. alt.sex.fencing
108. alt.sex.fetish.amputee
109. alt.sex.fetish.diapers
110. alt.sex.fetish.drew-barrymore
111. alt.sex.fetish.fa
112. alt.sex.fetish.fashion
113. alt.sex.fetish.feet
114. alt.sex.fetish.hair
115. alt.sex.fetish.jello
116. alt.sex.fetish.motorcycles
117. alt.sex.fetish.orientals
118. alt.sex.fetish.peterds.momma
119. alt.sex.fetish.power-rangers.kimberly.tight-spandex
120. alt.sex.fetish.robots
121. alt.sex.fetish.scat
122. alt.sex.fetish.size
123. alt.sex.fetish.smoking
124. alt.sex.fetish.sportswear
125. alt.sex.fetish.startrek
126. alt.sex.fetish.the-bob
127. alt.sex.fetish.tickling
128. alt.sex.fetish.tinygirls
129. alt.sex.fetish.trent-reznor
130. alt.sex.fetish.waifs
131. alt.sex.fetish.watersports
132. alt.sex.fetish.wet-and-messy
133. alt.sex.fetish.white-mommas
134. alt.sex.fetish.wrestling
135. alt.sex.first-time
136. alt.sex.fish
137. alt.sex.furry
138. alt.sex.gangbang
139. alt.sex.girl.watchers
140. alt.sex.girls
141. alt.sex.guns
142. alt.sex.hello-kitty
143. alt.sex.historical
144. alt.sex.homosexual
145. alt.sex.incest
146. alt.sex.intergen
147. alt.sex.jesus
148. alt.sex.jp
149. alt.sex.magazines
150. alt.sex.marsha-clark
151. alt.sex.masturbation
152. alt.sex.midgets
153. alt.sex.modem-kamikaze
154. alt.sex.motss
155. alt.sex.movies
156. alt.sex.necrophilia
157. alt.sex.nudels.me.too
158. alt.sex.oral
159. alt.sex.orgy
160. alt.sex.pedophilia
161. alt.sex.pedophilia.boys
162. alt.sex.pedophilia.girls
163. alt.sex.pedophilia.pictures
164. alt.sex.pedophilia.swaps
165. alt.sex.pictures
166. alt.sex.pictures.d
167. alt.sex.pictures.female
168. alt.sex.pictures.male
169. alt.sex.plushies
170. alt.sex.pre-teens
171. alt.sex.prostitution
172. alt.sex.reptiles
173. alt.sex.safe
174. alt.sex.services
175. alt.sex.sgml
176. alt.sex.sm.fig
177. alt.sex.snakes
178. alt.sex.sounds
179. alt.sex.spanking
180. alt.sex.stories
181. alt.sex.stories.d
182. alt.sex.stories.gay
183. alt.sex.stories.hetero
184. alt.sex.stories.moderated
185. alt.sex.stories.tg
186. alt.sex.strip-clubs
187. alt.sex.super-size
188. alt.sex.swingers
189. alt.sex.tasteless
190. alt.sex.telephone
191. alt.sex.toons
192. alt.sex.trans
193. alt.sex.ugly
194. alt.sex.uncut
195. alt.sex.video-swap
196. alt.sex.voxmeet
197. alt.sex.voyeurism
198. alt.sex.wanted
199. alt.sex.wanted.escorts.ads
200. alt.sex.watersports
201. alt.sex.weight-gain
202. alt.sex.wizards
203. alt.sex.young
204. alt.sex.zoophile
205. alt.sexy.bald.captains
206. alt.stories.erotic
207. alt.support.disabled.sexuality
208. alt.tv.tiny-toon.sex
209. clari.news.crime.sex
210. clari.news.gays
211. clari.news.sex
212. aus.sex
213. de.talk.sex
214. es.alt.sexo
215. fido.ger.sex
216. fido.sex-ger
217. fido7.ru-sex
218. fido7.ru-sex.adv
219. fido7.russian-sex
220. finet.sex
221. fiod7.other.russian.sex
222. fiod7.ru.sex
223. gay-net.behinderte
224. gay-net.btx-ecke
225. gay-net.coming-out
226. gay-net.dfue
227. gay-net.erotic-stories
228. gay-net.gruppen.general
229. gay-net.guide.bundesweit
230. gay-net.guide.weltweit
231. gay-net.haushalt
232. gay-net.international
233. gay-net.kontakte
234. gay-net.labern
235. gay-net.lederecke
236. gay-net.spiele
237. gay-net.test
238. rec.arts.erotica
239. shamash.gayjews
240. slo.sex
241. soc.support.youth.gay-lesbian-bi
242. t-netz.sex
243. t-netz.sex-stories
244. tw.bbs.sci.sex
245. ucb.erotica.sensual
246. uw.alt.sex.beastiality
247. uw.alt.sex.bestiality
248. uw.alt.sex.bondage
249. uw.alt.sex.stories
250. uw.alt.sex.stories.d
251. zer.t-netz.sex