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.
Hide this

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


  • 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 chronology ]

    • 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 chronology ]

  • 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 chronology ]

    • 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 chronology ]

  • 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 chronology ]

    • 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 chronology ]

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

    No Subject Given

    Should #7 be

    Chronic-what-cles of Narnia?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • 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 chronology ]

  • 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 chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.