> but I have to publish my full address on my website according to German law.

The E-mail address does not need to be your personal address, Lufthansa uses [email protected] and I don't see a reason why this would not be acceptable.

The postal address does not need to be your personal address, a business address is fine. Well, if you are a 1 person business run from home I am not sure. Go to court and have it tested up to the constitutional court, why Carsten Spohr (CEO of Lufthansa) gets better data protection than you do.

Yes, your real name has to be on a business web site. That's obviously the price to pay to run a business. As a potential customer wasting my money on fake service or otherwise suffering from a breach of contract, I think this is a good thing.

I also think the effect of this is absurd, but the logic is sound and it is unlikely it will change.

ICANN is illegally collecting protected data when requiring personal data for WHOIS without having any reason to do so, and that's the problem here, the conflict. But in the impressum, it is you that is releasing data, not someone collecting, and that is not conflicting with the DSGVO.

Maybe it would be possible to argue that Germany is collection that data de facto, or that it is illegally enabling illegal data collection by third parties, and suing the country for that in an EU court. But that is not a winnable fight, they'd argue that they are not collecting the data, and that there is a valid reason to force the release of the data.

Isn't ICANN collecting this data from registrars? I cannot recall myself entering my information on their website. I am sure a lot of people that buy domains don't even know about ICANN getting the data.

Registrars that are ICANN accredited are obligated to place all registrant data in escrow, so in effect, yes.

Because Governments can make laws but ICANN can’t? (GDPR explicitly exempts personal data that is legally required to be disclosed from protection)

Edit: actually after a bit more thought, it’s more nuanced than my somewhat glib response lets on (since there’s also an exemption for contractual obligations).

The answer is likely that a) the law hasn’t been tested in the courts under GDPR and/or b) the Government requirement has the additional test of providing a service, which may alleviate the privacy cost sufficiently.

https://www.rockit-internet.de/en/what-is-an-impressum/ ? Ah, the complicated boundary between "commercial" and "personal" ..

You only need to put an email address on your personal websites. If you choose to do business (which includes showing ads), you will need your full contact information on there.

> You only need to put an email address on your personal websites.

You don't have to publish any contact information on non-commercial websites.

You should do it anyways. If somebody can only reach you through lawyers, you will only get contacted through lawyers. This generates costs which somebody will have to pay, which might be you in the end.

Not all EU countries require that or have different rules around it (in germany only business-like websites require the imprint)

You are not forced to host a website despite having a domain.

Doesn't have to be your actual address, just one where you can receive mail.

Get a Postfach for a few euros a year, put it on there, and be done.

A postal box/postfach is not sufficient and that will definitely earn you a C&D. Don't do that. (21. Juli 2016, Az. 1 HK O 168/16 for reference).

The imprint requires an address that permits receiving legal notices (ladungsfähig), ie, an Address where you as a person can be found.

That's relatively recent then, but annoying.

In that case, shouldn't the trick via a UG (Haftungsbeschränkt) still work?

Well, even an UG (Hb) needs a business address which you will have to put in the imprint and to my knowledge you can't put a PO box as business address in the register.

Because the law is poorly drafted, ill-conceived, and places the responsibility for protecting these data solely on third parties, who then do not have resources to determine if they are even allowed to do something that you already agreed to in another form (by providing the data, specifically for the purposes of publishing, as part of the necessary process of registering a domain).

If you're offering a service, then yes, you have to do that.

Last time I checked, I found out that you're providing a commercial service if you put a button for paypal donations on your website. I don't know whether this is how things are today but it lead me to believe that it is not so simple to decide whether or not you do need an Impressum.

ICANN is relevant for email-only.

which case do you refer to about prosecution over free speech?

Stuff about Nazis, I bet.

Saying "free speech" was a claim, in that talk about Nazis is regulated in Germany.