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Record number of illegal websites blocked
Inspectors for the federal economy ministry and the customs service blocked 2,995 websites where counterfeit goods were being offered for sale in 2016, the ministry has announced. The figure is a huge increase on the previous year, when 328 were blocked.
The reason for the increase is that inspectors actively sought out such sites rather than just responding to complaints. The inspection service is now considered to be one of the best in Europe: While customs closed down 369 sites, inspectors blocked the remainder.
The service currently consists of seven inspectors, with two more due to be added soon. Despite the success of their own investigations, the service stressed that it always welcomes reports from members of the public regarding suspicious websites. Reports can be made anonymously online.
Photo: Ingimage
Comments
Is anybody there to control the work of the inspectors? If they are taking down websites proactively without any complaints being filed against them, we can only hope they are doing in good faith. This is what is called censorship and if today it targets only websites which sell counterfeit goods, how we citizens can be sure that it will be the case tomorrow?