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To: James Thai who wrote (73024)	8/10/1999 6:29:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

FOCUS-Bertelsmann addressing German hate book sales (releads with Bertelsmann plans, writes through) By Deborah Cole BERLIN, Aug 10 (Reuters) - German media giant Bertelsmann <BTGGga.F> said on Tuesday it would advise its online bookselling partner Barnesandnoble.com <BNBN.O> to stop selling Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and other hate literature banned in Germany. The company was reacting to a complaint sent by the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to the German Justice Ministry accusing Barnesandnoble.com and rival Amazon.com <AMZN.O> of violating German law by selling such books to German consumers online. "Bertelsmann will suggest that Barnesandnoble.com's management create a list of books that will no longer be sold in Germany," Bertelsmann Chief Executive Thomas Middelhoff told Reuters in a telephone interview. "My impression is that the Barnesandnoble.com management is willing to cooperate with us on this," he said. Middelhoff added that Bertelsmann might use a list of hate literature from the Wiesenthal Center as a basis for what books it would suggest banning from its German selection. Bertelsmann and U.S. book store chain Barnes & Noble each own 40 percent of the Barnesandnoble.com with the remaining 20 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. Amazon.com was not immediately available for comment. Middelhoff added that it aimed to block the distribution of "Mein Kampf" and other hate literature to Germany immediately. But he noted that because Barnesandnoble.com was an independent company, its management had the right to determine a policy. The Wiesenthal Center had said on Monday that its Internet researchers in Germany had ordered and received copies of "Mein Kampf" and "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a fraudulent early 20th century document that claimed an international Jewish conspiracy, from the two Internet companies. The German Justice Ministry said that it was reviewing the accusations against the two retailers and noted that companies can be held legally responsible for distributing hate literature in Germany even if they are based in the United States. "The law in Germany is clear," a ministry spokesman said. "Offering material that incites racial hatred with the intention of distributing it in Germany is illegal." He added that he was not aware of any official investigation of Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com by German prosecutors. Owning books with anti-Semitic or racist content is not necessarily illegal in Germany. But those found guilty of distributing hate literature or possessing such material with intent to distribute can be sentenced to up to three years in prison and fined. Middelhoff said that such cases illustrated the new legal minefield created by the Internet. "There are cultural differences at work here. This is a clear case illustrating the global nature of the Internet, as a mass medium that doesn't recognise any boundaries," Middelhoff said. "We need to find a way of dealing with this phenomenon." He added that executives from the telecommunications and media industries planned to present proposals for Internet regulation to government officials and trade body representives at a Global Business Dialogue summit in Paris in September. REUTERS Rtr 11:17 08-10-99