Journalists Face Charges For Mentioning Name of Pirate Site

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We are against copyright infringement as much as anyone else but this crap is ridiculous.

This week journalists faced an attack on their right to report following their publication of an article on piracy. The piece, an interview with the operator of an unauthorized ebook site, angered publishers when the reporters named the site in question. The editors of two publications were subsequently hit with a criminal complaint in which they were accused of assisting copyright infringement.
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Either decapitate the government that aids and abets the copyright creeps, or accept that you now live in a corporatist technocracy.
 
"And now this: Some people did some bad stuff today. We can't tell you WHO did it, but they did it."

"Up next, Steve with the weather - but that's not his real name. And it's going to be warm. Somewhere."
 
Well, this is Germany ... as much as we think Freedom of Speech is curtailed in the USA, it is still the Wild Wild West compared to many parts of the world ... remember it is still a crime in Germany to post Nazi images too ... different countries, different rules ;)
 
Germany's laws are quite different than ours.

I am not saying it is worse or better. But it is difficult to isolate a specific "bad" occurrence like this, and make a judgment as to their ways as a whole.

Their whole legal scheme is just setup different than ours and it pins and hinges on different philosophies.

An analogy would be American Football. Different teams utilize different defensive schemes (3-4, 4-3, nickle, cover 2, etc.). Each one has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. You cannot pick one out, point out its weakness, and say that scheme sucks because of that weakness. Because weakness is actually a result of being stronger elsewhere.

It is very difficult to isolate laws out - especially ones that have an impact on civil rights or economic forces. If you alter something it generally has a chain effect altering all sorts of things; everything is interrelated.


TL;DNR:

Do not write Germany, or their laws, off as a whole. You have to realize they have a different culture, different societal norms, different view on morality, different concept of what is just, different priorities of what is more important, different history, etc. They just have structured their legal scheme a little different than ours. This appears to be a weak point in their scheme. But in turn, we have weak points where they are stronger.

It is unfortunate, but there is no perfect way to structure these laws, while pleasing and incentivizing everyone. If it were easy, we would just do it. But there is an overwhelming amount of positive and negative ramifications to take into account once you really dive into this stuff.
 
I think the website's operators are a little too smug and cavalier about their situation. It seems they are only concerned with the angel of how their site can be taken down from the technical standpoint. Of course if the operators are arrested and jail and their equipment and media taken then I am not so sure all those ebooks will remain available for download. I don't think the article expressly says it but it seems that the site's operators are not in Germany and their own country may have very loose/strict protections(depends on your point of view as to who is being protected). But things change, things always change.

If you have the upper hand, best to enjoy it quietly and not tweak the Tiger's tail. He'll take it personal.
 
So, the 2nd isn't the only amendment under fire by our current regime.
 
to see how far it wends through the legal system. I'd consider it ridiculous if it results in anything. Here in the states we have people bring idiotic suits all the time that take a while to get the boot.
 
I live in California and I'm writing it off. We don't have money for schools but high speed trains and football stadiums are all good.
 
Not sure about Germany, but if their court proceedings are public (or complaints or whatever), that lists the site as the defendant, wouldn't they be just as guilty?
 
Ur_Mom said:
Not sure about Germany, but if their court proceedings are public (or complaints or whatever), that lists the site as the defendant, wouldn't they be just as guilty?
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Apparently the publisher's association website even posted the URL in an article about it.
 
Maximus825 said:
Apparently the publisher's association website even posted the URL in an article about it.
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Ah.... You'd think that as a journalist, you would know what is right and wrong to print. I'm all for free and open information and stuff like that, but if it's against the law, you better be ready for the consequences (i.e. Snowden, these guys, etc..).
 
Maximus825 said:
Apparently the publisher's association website even posted the URL in an article about it.
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Well I think that puts the story in a slightly different light, being charged for it still seems silly but I can see where some may consider putting the full URL in the story sort of aiding and abetting.
 
damn, hit post by mistake.

Let's look at it this way, if the paper was interviewing someone who ran a child porn website, and they posted the full URL, would anyone be questioning the charges?
 
ianken said:
:rolleyes:

Congratulations Derp. You just validated every negative stereotype about firearms enthusiasts.

Good job.
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He admitted he was wrong and didn't realize it was Germany. But, even if this was USA, how would that validate those negative stereotypes? :confused:
 
Ur_Mom said:
Ah.... You'd think that as a journalist, you would know what is right and wrong to print. I'm all for free and open information and stuff like that, but if it's against the law, you better be ready for the consequences (i.e. Snowden, these guys, etc..).
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DarkStar_WNY said:
Well I think that puts the story in a slightly different light, being charged for it still seems silly but I can see where some may consider putting the full URL in the story sort of aiding and abetting.
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No, an association that the publisher that's suing the newspaper belongs to put the address on their site. They wrote a story about how the newspaper did the interview and they included the address in it.
 
Maximus825 said:
No, an association that the publisher that's suing the newspaper belongs to put the address on their site. They wrote a story about how the newspaper did the interview and they included the address in it.
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This only proves that Germany is just like the US. Being "guilty" has less to do with what you did, and more to do with who you are (and how much money you have).
 
Unauthorized eBook site....publishers sued for mentioning unauthorized eBook site...does anyone else think that there is more to the story than what was reported?
 
Maybe in the USA they will just start tazeing everyone that speaks out against anything the government don't like. Dam I am so glad I moved from the USA permanently and never been happier.
 
yelsewshane said:
Maybe in the USA they will just start tazeing everyone that speaks out against anything the government don't like. Dam I am so glad I moved from the USA permanently and never been happier.
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Hopefully you didn't move to Germany :p
 
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