The head of CompuServe's German operations, still facing charges in Munich for helping to distribute pornography over the Net, is leaving CompuServe to start a business of his own.
There's no evidence of bad blood between Felix Somm and CompuServe, which pledged to continue supporting the general manager of its German unit against the allegations brought by the Munich prosecutor. CompuServe may even become a customer of Somm's new business.
Somm was busy representing CompuServe at a conference in France and not available for comment. Neither he nor CompuServe has publicly revealed the idea for his new company, but it will "be involved in the Internet sector and there's a potential for CompuServe to become a customer" said Steve Conway, a CompuServe spokesman.
CompuServe says it remains committed to assisting Somm with his defense in the first case of a government trying to hold an online service responsible for transmitting "offensive" material over the Internet. Distributing pornography is illegal in the German state of Bavaria. "We are going to continue to vigorously oppose the allegations and support Felix," Conway said.
"From our standpoint, it's incidental that those allegations happened to be directed against an individual," Conway explained. And CompuServe doesn't see the grounds for the charges at all. "We can't be expected to control what happens on the Internet itself," Conway said.
Somm is expected to leave the company's Munich offices within a week or so, according to CompuServe officials, who said his deputy, Eva Preuss, will take over as acting general manager. The German service began in 1991 and has 330,000 subscribers. Worldwide there are more than five million CompuServe users.
