Fw: COREL TO CENSOR ALL CLIP ART WORLDWIDE
Rohit Khare (khare@w3.org)
Mon, 2 Dec 1996 13:03:26 -0500
> Date: Sun, 1 Dec 1996 08:23:17 -0800
> From: nobody@cypherpunks.ca (John Anonymous MacDonald)
>
> Swastikas halt Corel sales
> By Reuters
> November 25, 1996, 12 p.m. PT
>
> MUNICH, Germany--Corel (COSFF) software company
> has temporarily halted sales of its top-selling Corel Draw
> graphics program in Germany because it includes four
> banned Nazi symbols, a company spokesman said today.
>
> The Canadian company will remove three drawings of Adolf
> Hitler and one swastika from future versions of its popular
> software, spokesman Thomas Layer said.
>
> It is also distributing warning labels to be placed on versions
> now being sold, Layer said. The label warns that the
> "improper use of digital images and symbols" found in the
> programs Corel Draw 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 is prohibited in
> Germany, which bans public displays of Nazi symbols.
>
> Munich's state prosecutor launched an investigation into
> the software on October 2 after learning that someone had
> used the banned images to print business cards for a
> neo-Nazi group, Layer said.
>
> This is not the first time that the company has had complaints
> due to their clip art images. In 1992, pressure from US Black
> rights organisations forced drawings of the Ku Kux Klan to be
> removed from the collection.
>
> Consideration is also being given to the removal of other images
> from the collection, either due to legal restrictions in
> various countries, or due to complaints from organisations
> such as the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Images considered for
> removal include a burning US flag, Josef Stalin, the Star of
> David icon, a cannabis leaf, and a drawing of a woman in a
> bathing costume.
>
> Corel Draw provides more than 24,000 clip art drawings and
> symbols that computer users can copy. The company
> suspended the sales on November 19.
>
>
>
> Peter Trei
> Senior Software Engineer
> Purveyor Development Team
> Process Software Corporation
> http://www.process.com
> trei@process.com