Blocking of foreign Web content by Internet access providers has been a hot
topic for the last 18 months in Germany. Since fall 2001 the state of
North-Rhine-Westphalia very actively tries to mandate such blocking. This paper
will take a technical view on the problems imposed by the blocking orders and
blocking content at access or network provider level in general. It will also
give some empirical data on the effects of the blocking orders to help in the
legal assessment of the orders.Comment: Preprint, revised 30.6.200