Online Sex Auctioneer Ordered to Reveal Customers’ Identities

A German woman became pregnant after having anonymous sex with six different men who bid on the erotic encounter in an online auction. Now a Stuttgart court has ruled that she has a right to know the men’s identities, despite the Web site’s assurances that their personal data would be kept private.

A Stuttgart court has ruled that a German woman who became pregnant after conducting an anonymous online sex auction has a right to know the father’s identity.

The woman had sex with six men, each of whom bid on the chance to sleep with her in an online auction. After learning that she was pregnant, the woman sought to identify the father, but she knew each man only by the screen name they had used on the auction Web site.
Full Article : spiegel.de

Dudes, domes and dot.coms

by Suszanna Clarke
February 19 2008

Tell me what’s wrong with the following sentence: “A woman in Germany who became pregnant after an online sex auction has won a court battle to force the Web site that hosted the sale to reveal the names of the winners, so she can find out who’s the father.”

It’s from a story that ran in the newspaper yesterday (Monday) and spawns many, many questions. You could go the whole technical route with these questions and ask that one of the premises of an auction is that it guarantees privacy for all participants so this ruling has broken a basic, long standing tradition. But I prefer to go the other route, that route being the one I like to call, “what the hell is going on in this world, have we lost all sense of common sense and decency?!”

Firstly, on line sex auction. Uhm, what? What exactly is an online sex auction and if it is what I think it is, wouldn’t it be easier to just go to your local red light district? The idea of anonymous people sitting in front of their computers for hours bidding to have sexual relations with a random stranger is in itself quite disturbing. One could ask if it’s any more disturbing than the traditional jump in the car/go for a walk and pick up a prostitute and I think I’d argue that, in my opinion, it is.
Full Article : newsday.co.tt