Shouldn't Lawyers Sending Out Nastygrams Online Understand The Internet First?
from the it-would-probably-help dept
It's amazing sometimes to see what happens when lawyers who don't seem to understand the internet start freaking out about something online. You would think, by now, people would know to go and ask someone who knows a little better to explain what's going on -- but we still see bizarre cases that never would have gone anywhere if someone had simply spent a tiny bit of time asking how the internet works, and whether or not there's a real issue.. John points us to a situation in Germany, where a blogger received a legal nastygram from the Sozialgericht Bremen, "a court of law for dealing with cases in the area of German social services" because his blog shows up in a Google search for Sozialgericht Bremen. Obviously, it seems silly to think that it would be illegal to mention Sozialgericht Bremen online, and after that, it's hard to see how the blogger in question has any control over where his site appears on a Google search for that term. However, that won't stop some lawyers from assuming that someone must be to blame -- and when someone's to blame, out come the legal nastygrams, even if they have no basis in, say, law.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Wouldn't it be funny if
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Wouldn't it be funny if
People + Lack of Knowledge + Pride = i.e. Sozialgericht Bremen
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Sozialgericht Bremen
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Top 15 of 2005 Year-End Google Zeitgeist
From http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html
1. richard pryor
2. tookie
3. john lennon
4. jennifer aniston
5. debra lafave
6. ann coulter
7. chronicles of narnia
8. lillo brancato jr.
9. brokeback mountain
10. making the band 3
11. survivor
12. hermione
13. syriana
14. luciana bozan
15. pearl harbor
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Very ridiculous still...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
Yes, she's threatening with laws & such, but you need to know the Germans to know that this is kind of a nonaggressive and almost socially acceptable message, and it shouldn't be understood in American hyperlitigious terms... if you ask me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Chronic-what-cles of Narnia?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Those Damn German Lawyers!
But they'll be really unhappy about what this has done for their Google results (count the blog entries).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
Ahhh... when the arrogant and ignorant collide ;)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]