Convicted German Murderer Wants His Conviction Erased From Wikipedia

from the bit-of-a-conflict... dept

EFF has the bizarre story of a convicted murderer in Germany who is demanding that Wikipedia censor all mentions of the guy's name. Apparently, he (and his lawyers) are using a part of German law that allows for the protection of "names and likenesses of private persons from unwanted publicity." However, as the EFF points out, he's not a private person. He became a very public person when he was tried and convicted (along with his half-brother) for killing Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayr. Apparently, his lawyers are going after multiple service providers, trying to get the guy's name taken off the internet. The EFF points out that the press has published the two convicted murderers' names for Sedlmayr's death: Wolfgang Werle and his half-brother Manfred Lauber, and that this appears to be nothing more than an attempt to censor history across multiple borders.

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German Chancellor Proposes Special 'Save Newspapers' Copyright Law

from the yeah,-that'll-work dept

It's beginning to look like German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes the entire point of copyright is not to provide incentive to create, but as a way to hurt Google and protect obsolete local businesses. Last month, we wrote about her complaints concerning the Google book project (where she conveniently left out the fact she had tried to fund the European equivalent). And, now, her party has proposed creating a special new copyright law just for old school news organizations. There aren't many specifics, other than they want to protect news organizations, and this odd claim:

"The Internet cannot be a copyright-free zone."

The thing is, it's not a "copyright-free" zone. But what the internet has shown is that if you put in place dumb copyright laws that do no more than to prop up business models, people will route around them. That's even more likely to occur if Merkel and her colleagues create a special "protect newspapers" copyright.

The article suggests that the likely proposal would involve "neighboring rights," which are found in some other areas of copyright law -- and would require that the original creator of the content give some kind of permission before any commercial use of the work. So, in theory, any "commercial" aggregator could only aggregate and link to stories from which it has received explicit permission. In other words, it would effectively break the basic premise of the web by not allowing you to summarize and link where you would like.

Not surprisingly, newspaper and magazine publishers in Germany are all for it, though they might want to think twice about that. Just wait until one of their competitors breaks a story, and they're unable to talk about it without "permission." Meanwhile, plenty of people who actually have put some thought into this realize that the "commercial/non-commercial" line is not clear at all. Is a personal blogger who puts up some basic ads on his or her site (even if they earn pennies) a "commercial enterprise"? And what about Google News, which doesn't have ads on the European version of Google News (it only recently put ads on the US version)?

On the whole, this sounds like someone decided they wanted to "help out" the major media companies, but without anyone putting much thought into the actual details or inevitable consequences of such a law. A more cynical person might suggest that this proposal is really designed to gain the current ruling party a bit of support from the mainstream press in Germany...

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Now Google's Facing A Criminal Investigation In Germany Over Copyrights On YouTube

from the oh-geeze dept

Hopefully, this leads nowhere, but NewTeeVee reports that an angry entertainment lawyer in Germany has filed a criminal complaint against YouTube for music from 25 musicians he represents. The complaint is that Google hasn't taken down the videos and hasn't allowed those artists access to the Content ID program that Google uses to try to block copyrighted works. It's not clear why these artists weren't allowed in. Google seems to deny the whole thing. Either way, it's not at all clear why this should be a criminal investigation rather than a civil lawsuit, as that's all there is (at best) here. There's apparently a half decent chance that German officials will eventually decide that as well, telling the lawyer to file a civil suit instead, but just the fact that a criminal investigation has begun is troubling enough.

Meanwhile, part of the complaint is that this lawyer wants to find out who uploaded the videos, presumably to sue them too, because we all know what works great these days for musicians is to sue their biggest fans, who are out there trying to help promote the musicians they love....

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German Chancellor Against Google Book Project... Leaves Out That Germany Tried Funding A Competitor

from the just-saying... dept

German Chancellor Angela Merkel got plenty of attention over the weekend for speaking out against the Google Book settlement, making some odd claims that suggest she's not particularly familiar with what the debate is actually about:

"The German government has a clear position: copyrights have to be protected in the Internet," Merkel said, adding there are "considerable dangers" for copyright protection in the Internet.

"That's why we reject the scanning in of books without any copyright protection -- like Google is doing. The government places a lot of weight on this position on copyrights to protect writers in Germany."

But... what Google's doing is not about scanning books "without any copyright protection." That's a fabrication. Hell, even a German court ruled that Google's book scanning project doesn't violate copyright. You would think that Merkel would be familiar with rulings in her own country. Separately, it seems worth noting that at one point, Germany was heavily involved in Quearo, a European project that was originally designed to compete with Google's book scanning project. While Germany eventually dropped out of that program, it's difficult to claim that Merkel is an unbiased party in this matter, as her government at least initially supported a project to compete with Google in scanning books.

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Old Music Conference Shuts Down, Blames 'Piracy'; New, Better Event Shows Up Instead

from the bottom-up dept

This is really great. Wolfgang Senges writes in to update us on how a group of passionate people who believe in a more bottom up approach to reinventing the music industry were able to put together a fantastic looking music conference in just weeks, called all2gethernow (disclosure: they asked me to come and present, but I was unable to make it). The story behind the event is that Popkomm, one of the bigger recording industry events, held in Germany each year, was canceled this year, with the guy behind it blaming "piracy" rather than, say, the economy and structural changes in the industry. A bunch of folks in Germany who knew better decided to show Popkomm's organizers how to organize a better event these days, and scrambled, pulling together a fun-looking event to be held at the exact same time as Popkomm had originally been scheduled. I'm sorry I couldn't attend, as it really looks like it should be an excellent event. Either way, it shows not only how events can work, but how the whole industry is shifting. The top-down model is changing, and the bottom up one, where more people are empowered, is taking over.

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Consumer Advocates In Germany Helping Those Accused Of File Sharing

from the getting-help dept

It looks like the concerns over copyright holders taking advantage of people online in Germany by doing things like sending threatening letters based on weak evidence, or even putting up their own files to try to find file sharers is worrying some consumer advocates. A consumer advocacy group in the country is now promising to help those who get such pre-settlement letters to respond to them while protecting their rights. It's good to see more people recognizing that at least some of these organizations appear to be taking advantage of the ability to send legalistic letters.

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Are Copyright Holders Seeding Own Files To Find, Sue Downloaders?

from the a-bit-of-a-twist dept

Last year, we talked about some language in a contract being used by a company that was supposedly trying to help copyright holders track down content being shared online, for the purpose of sending out threatening "pre-settlement" letters. The contract appeared to indicate that the copyright holders were giving the tracking company permission to put their works on file sharing programs, for the sake of "catching" people downloading the content:

To achieve the purpose outlined in clause 1, LICENSOR grants DIGIPROTECT the exclusive right to make the movies listed in Appendix 1 worldwide available to the public via remote computer networks, so-called peer-2-peer and internet file sharing networks such as e-Donkey, Kazaa, Bitorrent, etc. for the duration of this agreement

This seemed highly questionable. Considering that this was in association with a law firm that had been known to send out a large number of these pre-settlement demand letters, but never filed a lawsuit, one could make an argument that the companies had worked out quite a system: purposely put your own content online, watch who downloads it, then send threatening letter demanding payment. Of course, there were denials all around, and people insisted that this sort of language was really only necessary so the tracking company could download the content themselves.

And yet... Michael Scott points us to a lawsuit in Germany that indicates someone may be using this very trick. It's unclear from the writeup if this is the same company (probably not), but a guy who's been accused not just of copyright infringement, but a criminal charge of distributing pornography, is claiming this is what happened to him. His explanation is rather compelling. He claims that he was using a modded version of file sharing software that did not allow upload capability. In doing so, it means that he never distributed anything (which might make the "distribution" charge pretty hard to prove). But, of course, if he never shared anything, then how would his IP address get flagged? The only real option is that whoever he downloaded it from provided the IP address back to the copyright holder -- or was the copyright holder itself.

Of course... if that's the case, one could make a pretty strong argument that the content itself was also authorized, since it was put up on the file sharing network by the copyright holder. And, on top of all this, the guy claims that the files he downloaded had misleading titles, and he didn't intend to download pornography. Whether or not you believe any of that (or his intentions), it certainly suggests that at least some content owners may be putting their own content up in order to catch downloaders and hit them with lawsuits or settlement letters. It's difficult to see how that's legal.

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German Judge: If Sex While Driving Is Legal, Why Isn't Driving While Phoning?

from the those-deep-philosophical-questions dept

Six years ago, we noted in passing that a court ruling found that driving while having sex is perfectly legal in Germany (separately, it's apparently a popular practice in Russia). Part of the point was in discussing the troubling trend to try to pick off each and every "distraction" to outlaw -- and it seems like a judge in Germany is wondering the same thing. The judge, issuing a fine for a driver talking on his cell phone, started questioning whether it was legal at all to fine drivers for talking, noting how many other driver distractions were perfectly legal -- including sex, masturbation, shaving, changing the radio station and others. The judge isn't necessarily saying it's good to do those things (in fact, he notes the opposite), but he's questioning the constitutionality of banning just one of many distractions, and has apparently sent the issue to Germany Constitutional Court to examine the issue.

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German Green Party Pushes File Sharing Legalization Tax

from the an-idea-no-one-likes dept

It seems like an idea almost no one likes. Many users are against the idea of needing to pay a tax for file sharing they don't do, and the recording industry hates any idea that "legalizes" file sharing. And yet, the Green Party in Germany seems to be pushing forward with an idea to legalize personal file sharing via a special tax users would pay via their ISP bill. Apparently the plan would involve paying different amounts based on the speed of your internet connection, which seems a bit bizarre. What does the speed necessarily have to do with how much file sharing you do? Oh yeah, the other problem? No one seems to have any idea how to distribute the proceeds of such a tax.

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Tales Of Collection Societies Gone Wrong: GEMA

from the it-ain't-about-helping-the-artists... dept

We've noted in the past some of the massive problems with various collections societies around the world. These groups are often given something of a monopoly over collecting music royalties, and even though they present themselves as being non-profits designed to help artists, the truth is usually something far different. Beyond abusing their position, their real goal is often not to help all artists, but a small subset at the top. This is what copyright law has pretty much always done. By setting up artificial barriers and monopoly rents, it allows a very few at the top to benefit at a grossly disproportionate level, and it's the rest of the creators who are harmed by this (i.e., if those monopoly rents mean that I need to pay much more than the true market rate to support some top pop star, I'm much less likely to spend money on an up and coming indie musician). The whole recording industry has been built around a few megastars, and it should be no surprise that the industry has used copyright law and collections societies in support of that.

Wolfgang Senges is digging into how this works in Germany, where some are finally questioning GEMA's actions. In delving into how GEMA works, Senges notes that its entire structure is specifically designed to really only give a small percentage of top artists a say in how GEMA operates. Everyone else just gets dragged along for the ride. Is it any wonder, then, that its policies are mostly designed to help those big artists, rather than others?

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German Court Says Rapidshare Must Get Magical Powers To Know Which Songs Infringe And Which Do Not

from the how's-that-going-to-work? dept

Last year, the German music collection society GEMA sued Rapidshare claiming that the company had to filter out any infringing content. Of course, this makes little to no practical sense. Rapidshare is a platform that users use to share content. Rapidshare itself has no way of knowing whether the content is infringing or not, and any liability should be on the users, not the platform. But... courts don't always understand such things, and so a German court has now ruled that Rapidshare must stop certain songs from being distributed. GEMA, of course, is thrilled, noting that this means the copyright holders are "no longer required to perform the ongoing and complex checks." But, it means that Rapidshare not only has to perform ongoing and complex checks, it has to do so without having any information on what's legit or not. What if musicians want to share their music that way? What if the use is fair use? RapidShare appears ready to appeal, noting that appeals courts on these issues have been much more reasonable, so they're hopeful that the decision is reversed or greatly limited.

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German Elected Official Switches Parties To The Pirate Party

from the getting-some-attention... dept

Last week, we noted that Germany may be following Australia down the very slippery slope of internet censorship with a secret blacklist of websites that ISPs must block. Not surprisingly, not all politicians in Germany support such a move, and one, Jorg Tauss, was apparently so upset by it, that he's left his own political party and signed on with the German Pirate Party instead, recognizing that being against such forms of censorship is a key plank of the party's platform. That said, the article notes that Tauss may not exactly be what the party is looking for, as he's under a cloud of speculation concerning a supposed investigation into child porn on his computer. He claims that the content was sent to him while he was investigating such content in his role as an elected official, but it could still raise questions, and pending the outcome of the investigation could potentially harm the Pirate Party's reputation if the story is different than his official one.

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As Google Agrees To Delete Unblurred Street View Images In Germany, One Is Used To Solve A Crime

from the well-how-about-that dept

Earlier this week, Google agreed to delete unblurred images in its Street View database. If you don't know, Google Street View involves cars driving around photographing everything, so they can be placed on Google Maps. It's quite useful. However, some folks (and politicians) have been up in arms about the supposed privacy violation of photographing people walking in public (no, I don't get it, either). To deal with this, Google has been blurring faces of people. However, it usually keeps the unblurred versions in a database for future use (and for better training of its blurring mechanism).

However, just as the company agreed to delete the unblurred photos in its German database, over in the UK, such photos may be useful in helping to solve a mugging. The victim of the mugging (amazingly) noticed that one of the Street View photos was taken right before the mugging happened. It involved two guys who stole his bike, and the photo shows the two guys walking right behind the kid. He alerted the police, who got the unblurred image from Google and were able to track down the accused muggers. Of course, it's not clear if they'll actually be convicted or if there's really enough evidence. In the meantime, though, if you're thinking of mugging someone, maybe take a look around to see if there's a Google car driving along side you first.

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Facebook Loses Infringement Lawsuit In Germany Over Copycat Site

from the competition-ain't-bad dept

This is a bit of a surprise, as it appears that Facebook has lost a lawsuit in Germany against a site it accuses of copying Facebook (but in German). It's certainly true that the sites look quite similar, but the German court basically says that looking close is meaningless. If there's no confusion in what site people are on, there's really not much of an issue. And while the sites do have a lot of similarities, being on StudiVZ it's clear that the site is different from Facebook. While this may just be a German court protecting a local company against an American competitor, it seems like a good ruling from a policy perspective. Let the sites compete in the marketplace, rather than worrying about who copied what from whom.

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Is Germany Following Australia Down The Slippery Slope Of Internet Censorship?

from the hopefully-not dept

Via Slashdot we learn that Germany is the latest country to consider a censorship regime that would create a blacklist of sites that ISPs would be required to block. As with most such things, the official claim is that this would be to block out child porn. Of course, this is a head-in-the-sand approach to fighting child porn. It's about trying to pretend it's not there, rather than tracking down those actually responsible. Those who really want access will find it elsewhere through non-blocked sites or groups. Except now it will be more underground and harder to track. But, more importantly, in setting up any sort of secret censored list, you can pretty much guarantee that the list will be abused. A similar attempt in Australia, where again everyone was told it was about stopping child exploitation, was recently revealed to have a lot of other stuff on the list -- such that only 1/3 was actually about preventing child porn. The article linked above shows that Germans have teamed up to protest such a censorship regime -- and have done so in a very constructive manner -- suggesting much more reasonable alternatives. Now we just need to see if politicians recognize that there are better solutions before just jumping on the easy censorship "for the children" bandwagon.

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German Court Says 'Accidental' File Sharing Isn't A Crime

from the accidentally-on-purpose dept

Michael Scott alerts us to the news that a court in Germany has found that accidental file sharing is not a crime. In this case, it involved a guy using file sharing software, where he didn't realize that anything he downloaded was automatically shared. For that reason, he was found not guilty of sharing the same content. Of course, as the article notes, this isn't likely to be meaningful in other lawsuits in Germany for a variety of reasons, including the lack of precedential power of court rulings, and the fact that most copyright cases in Germany are civil, rather than criminal cases (this one was criminal, because of the nature of the content). Still, in an era when "accidental infringement" has become pretty much the norm, it's nice seeing a court realize the problems of charging someone for infringing by accident.

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T-Mobile Germany Tries The Jedi Mind Trick With Mobile Skype

from the no-it-isn't-yes-it-is-okay-it-is dept

The Skype app for the iPhone proved to be an instant hit, topping App Store download charts around the world, including Germany, where T-Mobile reminded its customers that using Skype, or any other VoIP app, could get them kicked off its network. The operator now says it's "looking at different ways of dealing with VoIP", perhaps including offering some special plan where users would have to pay some fee to use VoIP. It also says it's not actively blocking any voice apps, although when it begins selling the Nokia N97 smartphone later this year, the Skype application that's normally pre-installed on the device will be stripped out. T-Mobile's justification for removing the app is great: it's not because they don't want people undermining voice revenues by using Skype, but because "by not putting Skype on, subscribers could choose from a number of VoIP apps, and not be limited to just one." That's as opposed to having Skype pre-installed, and customers being able to download and install any other VoIP app alongside it. Only in the world of mobile operators does removing choices for customers actually increase customer choice.

Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.

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German Movie Studio Demands Cash From People It Thinks Shared Its Movies Online

from the and-here-we-go... dept

While the recording industry made the fateful (and self-destructive) decision years back to start suing file sharers directly, the movie industry, for the most part has avoided going down that path (in part after witnessing how badly it failed for the RIAA). The movie industry has been quite active in trying to shut down file sharing systems and sites, but for the most part has avoided accusing home consumers of infringement. It appears that may be changing in Germany. Michael Scott alerts us to the news that a major German movie studio has started sending out threat letters to 500 people (out of a list of 10,000) that it believes shared some of its movies. The letter demands $1,000 per infringing work, or promises a lawsuit. What's unclear is how this list was created, and how accurate (or inaccurate it is). Demanding $1,000 from people without any real proof that they did anything illegal certainly seems to come quite close to the classic definition of extortion. We've see how some have used similar shakedown letters for profit, and it makes you wonder why they're allowed at all.

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Pirate Party Banned From German Site That 'Pirated' Facebook

from the funny-that... dept

A bunch of folks have sent in the story on TorrentFreak about how the German social networking site, StudiVZ, has refused to allow The Pirate Party to create a campaign site, despite setting up campaign groups for every other political party campaigning for office. Chances are that this is just a screwup, where someone at StudiVZ was unfamiliar with the fact that The Pirate Party is a legitimate political party. However, what seems exceptionally ironic is the fact that StudiVZ is involved in a long and ongoing lawsuit with Facebook for copying Facebook's look and feel. Not only that, but StudiVZ's founder "freely admits that he took some of the basic ideas of Facebook and simply improved them." Thus, in the parlance of copyright maximalists, StudiVZ "pirated" Facebook. And, yet, now, it's shut down The Pirate Party's own site.

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German Music And Book Publishers Demand ISPs Block File Sharing Sites

from the because-no-good-can-come-of-that dept

Michael Scott points us to the news that German book publishers have joined with recording industry representatives to demand that a variety of file sharing websites be blocked by German ISPs, claiming "I don't see any other way than access controls to get to platforms like these that are based in foreign countries." Or, you know, the labels and book publishers could (*gasp*) try to figure out way to use these sites to their advantage rather than denying their existence. Blocking the sites, of course, won't do much of anything, other than moving those who file share to alternative sites or proxy's/encryption, making it that much more difficult for these companies to learn how to use these sites to their own advantage.

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