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.
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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2006 @ 10:59pm

    Wouldn't it be funny if

    Lawyers shut down Techdirt with frivolous claims, wearing down all its financial resources? Mike's strategy of being anti-establishment invites this fate.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Colby, 3 Jan 2006 @ 11:53pm

    Re: Wouldn't it be funny if

    What an irrelevant comment. I hate your comment, and I love Tech Dirt.

    People + Lack of Knowledge + Pride = i.e. Sozialgericht Bremen

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 3 Jan 2006 @ 11:58pm

    No Subject Given

    Can we get a Google top 10 here...

    Sozialgericht Bremen

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Google Press Center, 4 Jan 2006 @ 12:17am

    Top 15 of 2005 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

    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 thread ]

  5. identicon
    Joerg, 4 Jan 2006 @ 4:27am

    No Subject Given

    I am not sure if there were lawyers involved yet. It was the director of the Sozialgericht who personally felt offended and send out that letter, only threatening legal consequences. No idea whether she is a lawyer.
    Very ridiculous still...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    B-diggity, 4 Jan 2006 @ 6:34am

    No Subject Given

    Should #7 be

    Chronic-what-cles of Narnia?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    giafly, 4 Jan 2006 @ 8:25am

    Those Damn German Lawyers!

    Why don't they just sue Google for $billions like Americans would? It's positively undemocratic!

    But they'll be really unhappy about what this has done for their Google results (count the blog entries).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Michael, 4 Jan 2006 @ 9:09am

    No Subject Given

    What makes this so much more amusing is the sheer mass of people linking to his blog in response to the letter, and the sharp rise in the number of times "Sozialgericht Bremen" is mentioned on his blog because he allows comments. His site will be number 1 in no time.
    Ahhh... when the arrogant and ignorant collide ;)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    crankysysadmin, 4 Jan 2006 @ 10:35am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Not only was it just the director of the Sozialgericht, it's all about a "Zuordnungsverwirrung" -- that is, she (the director) is claiming that a casual Internet user could be fooled into thinking the blogger's website was actually the website of the Sozialgericht, because the *title* of the page which is appearing in the Google result is simply "Sozialgericht Bremen" (and not, for example, "Blog post about Sozialgericht Bremen"). She mentions that it's misleading because in the Google summary, you see the page title before you visit the page.

    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 thread ]

  10. identicon
    Andrew Strasser, 4 Jan 2006 @ 2:00pm

    Re: No Subject Given

    Like comedy...

    link to this | view in thread ]


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