German Court Recognizes That An Internet Connection Is Now Indispensable For Modern Life
from the and-that-it's-rather-wonderful dept
The German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe has acknowledged that an Internet connection is indispensable for life in the modern world, and that being cut off for several months deserves monetary compensation per day for the knock-on losses that inevitably causes:
The plaintiff was erroneously disconnected and demanded that the unnamed telecommunications company pay for costs that incurred in switching to a new provider. The plaintiff also demanded compensation of [about $67] per day for the period his was unable to use his DSL, fax over IP and VoIP services, according to the court.
The court's reasoning for the award is worth reading for its wide-eyed enthusiasm that is reminiscent of the early days of the Web (original in German):
The Federal Court, however, awarded compensation only for loss of the internet connection. Compensation for the loss of a fax connection was denied because a fax only enables the user to send text and images faster than conventional mail and the technology is increasingly becoming irrelevant due to the rise of alternatives such as email, the court ruled.Being able to use the Internet is an economic benefit whose continuous availability, even in the private sector, has for a long time been crucially important for a person's standard of living. The Internet makes available global information in the form of text, image, video and audio files. Thematically, almost all areas are covered and the most varied quality requirements satisfied. For example, light entertainment files are as readily available as information on everyday issues or highly academic subjects. Because of this easy availability, more and more the Internet is replacing other media, such as encyclopedias, magazines or television. It also allows global exchanges between its users, for example via e-mail, forums, blogs and social networks. In addition, it is increasingly used for the initiation and conclusion of contracts, for serving legal instruments and fulfilling public service obligations. The overwhelming majority of people living in Germany use the Internet on a daily basis. As a result, it has developed into a decisively important medium for the lifestyle of a large part of the population, and one whose failure has a significant impact on everyday life.
It's great to see courts in Germany and elsewhere recognizing the central importance of the Internet to modern life -- not least because this necessarily implies that "three strikes"-type punishments that involve disconnection from it are totally disproportionate, and akin to cutting off someone's electricity or water supply for months or more.
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Filed Under: germany, indispensible, internet connection
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Or just consider all the activities that an internet connection replaces or supplements: reading the newspaper, reading magazines, reading books, looking things up in the encyclopedia, talking to people on the phone, sending and receiving letters, faxing documents, watching tv, watching movies, playing video games, playing board games, filling out government forms, filling out business forms, participating in politics, etc, etc, etc...
Would any judge or jury rightfully take all of those activities and more away from a person as part of a sentence? Even convicts get internet access in prison sometimes.
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(Online banking, online shopping, paypal etc)
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Would any judge or jury rightfully take all of those activities and more away from a person as part of a sentence?
Its judicial terrorism.(Patent and Trademark pending) :)
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Ya think???
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I used to think you were smarter than this. Abuse your electric or water service, and that gets cut off too. No trial or nothing. Just accusations. OMG! Better call the EFF!
Sigh. You guys are so fucking boring sometimes.
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Its not like they would care if I hooked up my neighbor with either as long a I payed the bill.
In colder states it is illegal for utilities to shut off service during cold months. Before this was enacted utilities shut PPL off and they froze to death.
Internet access is becoming more and more like that. I need it for my job, pay bills, check the bank, student loan, etc.
The thing is cutting off someone for an accusation is the issue. No proof of abuse needs to be given. Just the say so of the MAFIAA. There should be consequences when at the whim of the MAFIAA they wrongly disconnect users. If there were, ISP's would have to be sure before cutting someone off. The way it is now, they bypass the whole judicial process, assume guilt, hand down a sentence, and then the user has to prove innocence.
When a criminal gets caught shoplifting, they get arrested, processed, and has the chance to post bail and be free until the trial.
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2. The gas / electricity supplier certainly wouldn't disconnect your gas or electricity supply because the entertainment industry told them to.
3. Your supply of gas or electricity is not arbitrarily disconnected - it is disconnected after following a legal process which includes proving that the customer has not paid their bill and has been reasonably informed that non-payment will result in disconnection, something that is also well within the rights of an ISP.
Sigh. You trolls are always so fucking stupid.
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Let's expand to other things, too
The thing is, with some people pushing for privatization of as much as possible, society might actually be headed the other way. If you can't pay for it, you don't get it: health care, food, education, clean water and air, etc.
Discussing what everyone should have access to, even when they don't have the ability to pay, is a great topic for discussion.
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The alphabet clone rightsholder organisations worldwide will attack any site if they can come up with a pretext no matter how flimsy it is.
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