If this week's border-transcending ruling by Germany's highest court proves anything, it's that an enormous distance remains between advocates of a free Internet and watchdogs against racism and hate-mongering.
Published:
17 December 2000 y., Sunday
The court, called the Bundesgerichtshof, issued a ruling on Tuesday that overturned a lower court ruling, and found that German law applies even to foreigners who post content on the Web in other countries -- so long as that content can be accessed by people inside of Germany. Specifically, the court found Australian Holocaust-denier Frederick Tuben guilty of spreading "Auschwitz lies."
Tuben, who was born in Germany, uses the website of his Australian-based Adelaide Institute to encourage people in the belief that the Holocaust has no historical basis. International reaction to the ruling differed wildly.
Andy Mueller-Maguhn, a leader of Berlin's famed Chaos Computer Club hacker collective and a new Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) board member, was blunt in questioning the legitimacy of the ruling. "This German court wants to judge over the whole world in effect," he said. "No one knows what it means. We could easily agree that it seems likely to be a decision made by a judge who does not understand very much."
Mueller-Maguhn, something of a celebrity in Germany as a technology visionary, plans to take immediate action. He said he will contact Germany's highest court on Monday morning and invite someone from the court for a debate before Germany's legislature on the ruling - and how it should be applied in the future.
Šaltinis:
Wired News
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Software company announced new structure_ of it_s business.
more »
Now, cell phones can deliver nifty Net services fast, and Americans are signing up by the millions
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
Internet Portal Developed by Lithuanians Ranked Best in the USA
more »
A significant number of Europeans are interested in 3G wireless technology, and half are willing to pay for it
more »
Someday soon North American telephone numbers might add up to 12 digits, including area code, instead of the current 10
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
The Bush administration released a scaled-back cybersecurity strategy outlining steps that the government, industry and citizens should take to protect computer systems from online attacks
more »
A recent Microsoft Corp. security patch for Internet Explorer (IE) can lock users out of certain Web sites
more »
'Surrogate memory' stores your life on hard disk
more »
Lithuania’s Payment Card Market is Growing Fastest in CEE
more »