Maul halten und weiter dienen « More shameless remarks by Larko

Maul halten und weiter dienen

Thursday, November 9, 2006 at 9:44 | In Bloggers' rights, Blogosphere, Freedom of speech, Germany, censorship, internet | 21 Comments

As I have written on several occasions, the absurdity of the German legislation combined to court practices that could best be described as restrictive in view of freedom of speech, you can never feel safe when publishing articles, whether facts or commentaries, about existing persons if you mention them by name. The most notorious court dealing with cases involving opinions expressed in the Internet is the 24th Civil Chamber of Landgericht Hamburg, also commonly known as the Dunkelkammer or the Dark Chamber. The chamber is presided by judge Andreas Buske.

Many of the chamber’s controversial rulings have prompted sharp protests. The rulings are said to have been arbitary and often announced and enforced without a proper hearing of evidence. The practices of the chamber have been said to favor abuse of justice by extreme groups both in far right and far left.

The justice system is also frequently abused by lawyers who choose to sue bloggers and forums as a matter of routine although they could just as well write to the blogger or forum administrator and politely ask them to remove an offensive comment or post. Rather than negotiating in a civilized manner, they promptly sue because they can then charge their fat fees from the person who was sued even if the dispute itself is settled. This sort of dog law approach is so common in Germany that there is a word for it: Abmahnwelle. And believe it or not, a special blog was recently kicked off with the sole purpose of covering lawsuites against bloggers.

Marcel is a productive blogger with a witty and satirical approach. He has also been the target of overwhelmingly the greatest number of lawsuites among German bloggers. They keep coming so fast that it is almost impossible to keep track on his lawsuites. In a recent one he was sued for 756,09 € in legal costs by none other than Germany’s Minister of Environment Sigmar Gabriel. The fresh claim originates from an earlier lawsuite about a satirical image caption which had been added by a user into Marcel’s wiki.

As exercising the constitutional freedom of speech may due to these bizarre legal practices become very expensive for a blogger or a forum administrator, it is fair to say that it does practically not exist in the German Internet unless you are a millionaire who can afford to take their chances in a court of law. No wonder that some bloggers are taking some precautions. You had better be safe than sorry, as it were.

As a preventive safety measure, Kai has decided to execute some self censorhip in his wiki. He has deleted two articles, one about the BMW billionaire Johanna Quandt and another about the former Minister of transport Manfred Stolpe whose past has some unanswered question about his alleged cooperation with the East German state security office STASI. Mentioning even solid facts about his past may very well be dangerous in Germany.

Which brings me to the title of this post. It would translate to “shut up and work ahead”. It is an old German saying. Maul halten und weiter dienen!

Edit: Just to straighten out some confusion with legal terminology, I advice uou to read On point of order.

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[...] Ein treffender Tatsachenbericht inklusive – meines Erachtens – unvorteilhaftem Foto von Sigmar G. (Bundesumweltminister): Maul halten und weiter dienen. [...]

Pingback by RA-Blog » Außerhalb deutscher Jurisdiktion — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
Thanks to a few questions I was asked in the comments to my post, I have to ask a question myself. First the matter in dispute:

The justice system is also frequently abused by lawyers who choose *to sue* bloggers and forums as a matter of routine although they could just as well write to the blogger or forum administrator and politely ask them to remove an offensive comment or post. Rather than negotiating in a civilized manner, they promptly *sue* because they can then charge their fat fees from the person who was *sued* even if the dispute itself is settled.

It appeared to me, that you meant “sue” in the sense of ’starting a legal dispute’ (sending a cease-and-desist order and a fee) and not ‘filing a lawsuit’ (which often happens subsequent when nobody wants to pay the fee). Just say “Yes!”

Comment by TK — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
… and now to something completely different: Is “dog law” a Finnish phrase?

Comment by TK — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
Thomas, you got it right. That is what I meant. Unlike some other blogs, mine is read also by people who are not familiar with the fine print of German law which is why I do not even try to explain the procedures in detail.

No, “Dog law” is not a Finnish phrase. I picked it at Abmahnwelle:

„Dog Law“ nennt Prof. Dr. Herberger schon 1999 auf dem 8. EDV-Tag in Saarbrücken kritisierend diese Einstellung: wie einem Hund vermittelt man uns das Wissen um ein Fehlverhalten hinterher durch Prügel.

Comment by Larko — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
I just asked pro forma. And about “dog law”… now that I know it’s a semi-official term, I will certainly quote it. Sounds funny, but isn’t.

Comment by TK — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
I understand exactly where the question was promted from.

I agree that there is vey little funny about it, if at all. But the expression seems to hit the target.

Comment by Larko — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
Is Germany the only country where such ‘law activity’ exists? I know that in US law the Freedom of Speech weighs at least as much as a person’s right to control what is being said about him/her. I’m quite certain the authors of the german constitution did not intend the current german system when they declared the ‘Würde’ of a human to be untouchable.

Comment by Andre Heinrichs — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
I am not able to say whether or not Germany is the only country, probably not. And there are certainly countries where freedom of speech exists even less than in Germany. Reporters without borders recently updated their list of the notorious countries on line and Germany is obviously not listed there.

For what I have detected, names and faces of citizens can appear in US print, air and on line media without much restrictions. Suspects in criminal cases are exposed far before they have been found guilty by a court of law which is somewhat odd on a European point of view. But I have not detected anywhere outside Germany that I would have to write Andre H. instead of Andre Heinrichs if I were to write about you in my blog. It would be natural to publish your full name as long as I do not write anything slandering.

Comment by Larko — Thursday, November 9, 2006 #
You wouldn’t have to shorten my name anyway. I don’t think that I would sue you anytime soon.

Comment by Andre Heinrichs — Friday, November 10, 2006 #
[...] More shameless remarks by Larko My voice in the Web – about anything and everything, sometimes even nothing « Maul halten und weiter dienen [...]

Pingback by On point of order « More shameless remarks by Larko — Friday, November 10, 2006 #
I was not thinking of you specifically. Let us put it this way: why would I have to write judge Andreas B. rather than judge Andreas Buske?

Comment by Larko — Friday, November 10, 2006 #
Freedom of speech beats personal rights

Thomas has evaluated the importance of the German terms for freedom of speech and personal rights in a Google fight. Much to amusement of the blogging community, freedom of speech scores higher. The difference is much clearer if you put the English ter…

Trackback by More shameless remarks by Larko — Friday, November 17, 2006 #
[...] Sicher mag manch einer denken, das im Baseblog unter dem Titel “Fat Siggy – Bald weg?” immer noch einschliesslich der umstrittenen Bildunterschrift abrufbare Bild von Sigmar Gabriel sei entartete Kunst und verstosse gegen das gesunde Volksempfinden, aber ich denke, dass Lurusa Gross möglicherweise recht hat, wenn sie sagt, das käme wohl auf den Standpunkt des Betrachters an. Was könnte eigentlich Larko mit der Überschrift Maul halten und weiter dienen meinen? [...]

Pingback by Mein Parteibuch » Auszug aus der Klageerwiderung zur Klage von Sigmar Gabriel — Thursday, November 23, 2006 #
[...] PS: Larko from Finland has written a summery of the case in English language under the title Maul halten und weiter dienen. [Trackback URI] [Permalink] [...]

Pingback by Mein Parteibuch » Terminhinweis: Klage von Sigmar Gabriel morgen am AG Hamburg — Monday, December 4, 2006 #
[...] PS: Larko from Finland has written a summery of the case in English language under the title Maul halten und weiter dienen. < [...]

Pingback by SPD-Minister Siegmar Gabriel prozessiert gegen SPD-Blogger Marcel Bartels: Gerichtstermin 5. 12. 2006 am AG Hamburg - Odenwald Geschichten — Tuesday, December 5, 2006 #
Hi again, thanks for your reply. I want to put this post of yours in my blog so the other readers can also avail from it. I will put your link and name there but all i will do if you give me a permission, thanks.

And one question more, is there any EU rule or law for (right of) blogger freedom of Speech ? As it is Germany which is mostly brought to European Court because they always make the laws which are mostly conflicting to EU Laws and in result Germany never wins the case.

Comment by saa — Tuesday, December 5, 2006 #
We had an academic discussion a while ago with Margaret at her blog about the legal situation within the EU. Theoretically, some Impressum rules exist on a European level but they are not enforced in most EU countries the same way as in Germany. I would rather not have EU regulation in this area for several reasons.
The Internet needs a minimum amount of regulation as a matter of principle. Most rules would be pointless anyway since they can not be effectively enforced. If EU were to adopt some standards, I have a hunch that they would be closer to the German restrictive approach than a more liberal one. It is better to maintain the status quo provided, of course, that the rest of us will help the German community to fight some of the most absurd regulations.
I would naturally welcome any incoming links, no need to ask permission for that. Perhaps it would be a good idea to reproduce a selected quote rather than copying all of the lengthy post, though.

Comment by Larko — Tuesday, December 5, 2006 #
Thanks again and again and again I am adding your blog in my blogroll as well. Also I am selecting some quotes from this post and putting your name with your link.

I am learning alot from you, thanks…:-)

Comment by saa — Tuesday, December 5, 2006 #
The pleasure is mine.

Comment by Larko — Tuesday, December 5, 2006 #
[...] Not all German bloggers are enthusiastic about the new regulations. Some of them have announced counter regulations in their own blogs to balance the health effect of blogging. It is so far not clear if violations of these counter regulations would prompt legal action but chances are that this may turn out to be another gold mine for lawyers who practice dog law. [...]

Pingback by Germany introduces web health regulations on April 1st « More shameless remarks by Larko — Sunday, April 1, 2007 #
thanks for inviting me to your website.
quite a simple page but with informative content.
well done.

Comment by MyLaw — Sunday, April 8, 2007 #