Abstract from the author

Existing measures are not sufficient to satisfactorily combat the dissemination of illegal content on the internet. Therefore, the existing international Conventions on terrorism need to be concretized and measures to have to be found to effectively implement and enforce them. The fact that terrorism merits to be prohibited is commonly acknowledged and constitutes part of international ordre public. Terrorist acts violate human rights, in particular the right to life as one of the most fundamental human rights. If the security interests outweigh the individual’s rights to freedom of speech or open communication in particular case, the illegal information has to be removed from the internet. However, not only repressive, but also preventive actions need to be taken. Preventive efforts can consist in the introduction of technological barriers, the threat for Internet providers of being held liable or the threat for nation states of being sanctioned for not complying with their obligations.

Der Aufsatz wurde im Rahmen des 7. Beitragswettbewerbes „Recht in Zeiten des Terrors“ angefertigt. In der Serie aus Anlass des Wettbewerbes sind bisher des Weiteren erschienen: Michael Walter (15-2008), Christoph Brendel (16-2008), Henrik Zapfe (17-2008), Elisa Hoven (18-2008), Heiko Richter (19-2008), Tina Roeder (20-2008), Andreas von Mettenheim (21-2008), Manuel Ladiges (2-2009), Yoan Hermstrüwer (3-2009), Christopher Unseld (5-2009), Hauke Haverkamp (7-2009), Susanna Suelmann (9-2009), Bijan Moini (11-2009), Marc Lendermann (12-2009), Dominik Steiger (14-2009), Christina Scheidle (15-2009), Heribert Prantl (16-2009) und Annegret Frankewitsch (18-2009).

• I. Introduction
• II. Content-related regulation
• 1. Problem of common understanding
• 2. Rulemaking approaches
• 2.1 Government regulation
• 2.2 International agreements
• 2.3 Self-regulation
• 3. Evaluation
• III. Application of international ordre public?
• 1. Ordre public in international law
• 1.1 Ordre public in general
• 1.2 Delimitation of ordre public to other categories of norms in public international law
• 1.3 Effects of ordre public
• 2. Prohibition of terrorism as element of ordre public?
• 2.1 Balancing human rights
• 2.2 International initiatives demonstrating the existence of a common understanding
• 2.3 Control measures as information channeling mechanisms
• 2.4 Avoidance of terrorism as part of the ordre public
• IV. Implementation
• 1. Technological measures
• 1.1 Content monitoring
• 1.2 Storing of Internet content
• 2. Liability of Internet providers
• 3. Soft sanctions for countries not co-operating
• V. Conclusions