[WikiEN-l] FYI: www.wikipedia.de does not longer redirect to de.wikipedia.org on a temporary basis

[Mathias Schindler]

http://www.p2pnet.net/story/7660 "Wikipedia Germany offline"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_(hacker)

His family does not wish his full name to be used, and many German 
newspapers refer to him as "Boris F." On 14 December 2005 the parents 
obtained a temporary restraining order in a Berlin court against 
Wikimedia Foundation Inc. because its freely editable online 
encyclopedia, Wikipedia, mentioned the full name in its German language 
version. The order prohibits the Foundation from mentioning the full 
name on any website under the domain "wikipedia.org". It furthermore 
requires the Foundation to name a representative in Germany within two 
weeks following the decision.[3]

This was widely reported in the Dutch and German press [4]. German law 
requires that the order be delivered within four weeks. The initial 
order was however mistakenly addressed to Saint Petersburg, Russia 
rather than to Saint Petersburg, Florida; this was corrected five days 
later. It is unclear how the German court can enforce the order in the 
United States.

On 17 January 2006, a preliminary injunction from a court in Berlin 
prohibited the Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. [1] local chapter from linking 
to German Wikipedia, resulting in the change of the wikipedia.de address 
from a link to German Wikipedia to a page explaining the situation, 
although the page does not mention Tron.[5] Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. 
confirmed to the internet news site golem.de that the new injunction is 
linked to the prior case against the Wikimedia Foundation and was issued 
on behalf of the same plaintiffs. Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. is cited as 
willing to stand against the injunction, arguing that no valid case is 
seen and the freedom of the press must be defended.[6]

Because Andy Müller-Maguhn, being one of the spokespersons of the Chaos 
Computer Club, is involved deeply into the case on side of the 
plaintiffs, some media reported this as a case of the Chaos Computer 
Club against Wikipedia. The Chaos Computer Club itself, however, issued 
a statement, that this is a case between a few of its members and 
Wikipedia, and that the CCC does not take any position in this.[7]

The Austrian online magazine "futurezone" interviewed Andy Müller-Maguhn 
on 19 January 2006 about the case and its backgrounds. Maguhn admitted 
that the true reason behind the incident is a fictitious work recently 
published by a german author in which the main actor has the same 
(civil) name as Tron. The parents sent a protest to the publisher but 
were turned down with the argument that the German Wikipedia does use 
the name as well. In turn Müller-Maguhn asked German Wikipedia to remove 
the name, but was turned down for a number of reason, including failure 
to present proof that he is entitled to speak and act on behalf of the 
parents.[8][9]

    1. ^ zdnet.co.uk: "High-stakes hacking, Euro-style", by Bob 
Sullivan, 25 October 2000
    2. ^ Wired News: "Out of Chaos Comes Order", by David Hudson, 28 
December 1998
    3. ^ Telepolis: "Hacker leben nicht gefährlich", by Burkhard 
Schröder, 10 January 2006 (in German)
    4. ^ Spiegel Online: "Streit um Tron: Darf man einen Hacker beim 
Namen nennen?", by Holger Dambeck, 10 Januar 2006 (in German)
    5. ^ Heise Newsticker: "Domain wikipeda.de ist zurzeit außer 
Betrieb", by Andreas Wilkens, 19 January 2006 (in German)
    6. ^ golem.de: "Wikipedia.de derzeit abgeschaltet", by Andreas 
Donath, 19 January 2006 (in German)
    7. ^ CCC: "Klarstellung zu Wikipedia vs. Tron", by Frank Rieger, 13 
January 2006 (in German)
    8. ^ futurezone: "'Einstweilige' gegen Wikipedia.de", by unnamed 
author, 19 January 2006 (in German)
    9. ^ German Wikipedia: Archived Discussion about the Article "Tron 
(Hacker)", various authors