German lawmakers have decided to criminalize the provision of Dark Web hosting infrastructure on the grounds that illegal activities are taking place.
The Bundesrat, the legislative body representing Germany's 16 federal states, passed the measure on Friday and is preparing to present the bill to the German Parliament where it will be discussed and possibly approved.
Of course, we have to say that it is already illegal to sell drugs or hitman services on these websites. However, German lawmakers believe that more needs to be done to stop providing any technical infrastructure in these markets.
Ο law was originally proposed by the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and called for criminal penalties for those who provide platforms that allow criminal offenses and where access is restricted by special technical precautions.
This means websites that are only accessible through services such as Tor and I2P - Tor and even refers to Accompanying Documentation (PDF) of the draft law.
There will be imprisonment sentences of up to three years in cases of provision of infrastructure on platforms dealing with narcotics, explosives and child sexual abuse material.
Bavaria tried to modify the plan to sanction the regular as well Internet except from the Dark Web, further suggesting the use of telecommunications surveillance and government satellites. According to Netzpolitik, the Bavarian amendments did not pass.
However, there are some who fear that the proposal is still very extensive. The criminal David Schietinger said to Der Spiegel that the law "would severely restrict civil liberties" and that "it could be used to severely restrict or completely ban the Dark Web".
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