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 »
Linux evangelists are keeping the faith, even when it comes to the elusive Holy Grail of the open-source operating system: taking a significant chunk of the desktop market.
more »
Afghanistan's Taliban government, which declared the Internet unholy and banned its use for millions of Afghan citizens last June, maintained a website until shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
more »
This big Korea tourism site is designed to be the first port of call for providing information to overseas visitors to Korea.
more »
In court and on the Internet, the FTC and several states are cracking down on the practice with a Web site and lawsuits to help consumers "ditch the pitch."
more »
The Pentagon said on Friday that it won't limit the accuracy of positioning information that's beamed to civilian global positioning system (GPS) receivers.
more »
Microsoft has asked the New Zealand government to implement strict regulations to protect online intellectual property
more »
Nokia Communications and Finnish operator Sonera reported today that they conducted wireless LAN roaming using the GSM core network and roaming infrastructure.
more »
On Wednesday morning, the mass media abounded with pseudo-apocalyptic horrors. Dozens are "exposed" to anthrax.
more »
The market for watching movies over the Internet is uncertain, so few people have the necessary high-speed connections.
more »
Group Claims Bank Hack Attacks; Others Not So Sure
more »