A letterbox with a sign saying ‘Nur für Liebesbriefe’ (only for love letters).
After many late nights getting the site built, blog posts written and videos edited, my mouse was hovering over the publish button. So what was holding me back?
If you've never lived here, you might not know what an Impressum is. It's a legal notice that almost every website in Germany has to have. Not just big companies. Shops, freelancers, YouTubers, Instagram accounts and, yes, that includes me! That means a real postal address where legal letters can reach you has to be listed publicly.
This, in the country of Datenschutz. Germans take data protection very seriously. If it were an Olympic sport, Germany would win gold! And yet the same country expects me to publish where I live, just so I can write about life here. You couldn't make it up!
I can hear you now: “Just publish the site, Simon.” Unfortunately, in Germany there are lawyers whose job it is to find websites with a missing or wrong Impressum and send them a warning letter, an Abmahnung. These letters can cost a few hundred euros.
This is a real Marmite moment! Germany is my home. But some days, I'd like to change the rules.
So if you're reading this, it means I made it through the process. The site is live.
Image credit: Photo by Kranich17 on Pixabay
Kranich17 pixabay.com/users/kranich17
Pixabay pixabay.com