German Protestant Church offers free internet to the public

“Gadaspot” is the name given to the hotspots that the German Protestant Church plans to offer. The project comes at a time when Germany is one of the most backward countries in terms of providing free internet in public places.

If until now it was the sound of church bells that echoed in space, now a project has been launched in Germany that will broadcast free internet from churches in space. In an interesting project, the German Protestant Church has proven that it can also address modern needs of people, such as free internet access.

In the first phase of a hotspot project launched by the Protestant Church in Germany, 220 churches in Berlin and Brandenburg will provide free internet access to users. These hotspots have been called “Godspots.”

The goal of the German Protestant Church's new project is to provide free internet in 3,000 churches in the country by May 2017. If successful, the project is set to reach the Catholic Church as well.

According to church officials, this project, which was launched on the eve of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Church, is not a commercial move like what shopping malls or cafes do to attract customers.

"Municipalities are failing to provide even minimal internet access as part of their public services, and in such a situation, people are pinning their hopes on civil society, such as the Catholic and Protestant churches," internet freedom activist Markus Bechdahl told DW.

Germany is one of the few developed countries in the world that is not a good place for internet users when it comes to providing free internet in public spaces. Statistics show that there are only two hotspots (Wi-Fi) for every 10,000 people in Germany.

The limited number of hotspots in Germany is in contrast to the growing number of internet users in this modern country. According to research by the ARD and ZDF television networks, more than 80 percent of Germans were online in 2015, and the number of people who used the internet on the move (not at home or at work) was 55 percent, up five percentage points from the previous year.

A hotspot is a physical location where a user can access the Internet via Wi-Fi technology. Public hotspots are increasingly available in urban areas such as shopping malls.

Limited access to hotspots does not only affect the lives of German citizens and residents, but also those who travel to the country, and their number is increasing.

But the German term Strerhaftung is an ISP nightmare. It explains everything about public hotspots in Germany. It refers to the legal liability of the internet provider for illegal downloads, an issue that has led to a conservatism regarding the provision of public hotspots.

For example, if a customer in a café uses the internet to download movies or music, the café owner will be fined up to thousands of euros. This controversial law is due to be reviewed and possibly amended this autumn.

But the church has shown no willingness to wait for the law to change and has said it will rely on its lawyers to deal with potential legal challenges.

"This is a right and necessary step, especially if the issue of secure and reliable communications is seen as a major issue," Fabian Kretschmer, head of the local Protestant church's information technology department, tells DW.

"This (providing secure communication) is something we've been doing for centuries," he said, referring to the priest's secrecy law regarding confessions of believers to the church.

What the church has decided to do, Kretschmer said, is about “the principles of the church as an institution.” He also says the church is seeking to “reach out to people with a joyful message.”

“Churches have always been a place where people have passed by and others have gone inside to escape the heat, or to see church art, or to rest,” he says.

According to statistics, of the 23.6 million people registered as Protestants in Germany, less than one million attend church regularly.

This action by the Protestant Church has once again sparked criticism that has always existed in recent years regarding the state of public internet in Germany.