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Project Gutenberg: Court Order to Block Access in Germany

Die Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF) sperrt jetzt den Zugang zu allen Büchern des Project Gutenberg für IPs die Deutschland zugeordnet sind, aufgrund eines Gerichtsurteils das in Deutschland ergangen ist, weil Werke von Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann und Alfred Döblin in USA zwar bereits gemeinfrei sind, aber noch dem deutschen Urheberrechtsschutz (Tod + 70 Jahre) unterliegen.

Es lohnt sich, die Q&A im PGLAF statement zu lesen. Money quote:

PGLAF's legal advisors disagree that any foreign Court or entity has jurisdiction over its actions regarding copyright. The Court in Germany has promoted a theory that it has jurisdition, mainly because the www.gutenberg.org site has some content in the German language. The view of PGLAF is that it is up to the rights owner in Germany to identify people there who are infringing on its copyrights, and pursue remediation there.

Q: So the court thinks that the presence of content in German means that courts in Germany have jurisdiction, regardless of the fact that PGLAF is entirely in the US?
A: Yes, that was the original basis of the claim for jurisdiction, which the Court accepted in their judgement. Since then, there some more recent decisions in the European Court of Justice, and other German courts, that support this theory based on a Web site being accessible from a country.

Wenn ich irgendwelche Abos beim S. Fischer Verlag, GmbH oder anderen der Verlagsgruppe Georg Holtzbrinck GmbH (Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC) hätte, würde ich die jetzt kündigen, und zwar mit Angabe genau diesen Grundes. Wer derartigen kulturellen Kahlschlag auslöst verdient es nicht anders. Auf jeden Fall werde ich in Zukunft vermeiden Bücher von angehörigen Verlagen zu kaufen. Obwohl das schwierig werden könnte, denn es sind eine ganze Reihe von Verlagen unter Holtzbrinck: Macmillan Publishers mit den deutschen Publikumsverlagen S. Fischer Verlag, Rowohlt Verlag, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Droemer Knaur, Argon Verlag, [Quelle Wikipedia]. Leider sind die Dieter von Holtzbrinck Medien (DvH Medien), denen der Zeitverlag gehört, der Georg Holtzbrinck GmbH eng verbunden.

Gerüchtehalber gibt es wohl einige Unstimmigkeiten bei der Geo-Zuordnung von IPs bei verschiedenen deutschen Internet-Providern und ob IPv4 oder IPv6.

Germany is still an underdeveloped digital country on 4G mobile networks

15GB per month for €25, while in the neighbor country Denmark you get Unlimited GB for the same price..

One tariff with €199.95 for Unlimited GB in Germany btw... statistics of Nov-2017 with data of 2016.

Tooting at mastodon.technology

Not been much active there, but mammut.space is down since days (weeks?) without any sign of life. So I revived my @erAck@mastodon.technology account (https://mastodon.technology/@erAck).

Update 2018-07-14: For the records, time ago I decided to focus on my @erAck@social.tchncs.de account (https://social.tchncs.de/@erAck).


Subway Tooter, a Mastodon client for Android

Best Mastodon client that supports multiple accounts I found so far for Android is Subway Tooter (jp.juggler.subwaytooter). If you don't use Google Play but F-Droid it's also available from the IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository.

Unlike in the web client you can choose which account to use when you toot, boost, reply, follow, favourite or send a message, where otherwise the web client uses the account on the server you happen to be logged in.

Update 2018-07-14: For the records, time ago I switched to Mastalab available from F-Droid, and as "backup" client Tusky available from F-Droid as well.

LibreOffice in The Matrix [m]

If you use the Riot Element App (or any other) to connect to the Matrix and communicate, there's now a LibreOffice room that is plumbed with the #libreoffice IRC channel on freenode.net Libera.Chat. IRC channels are bridged to the matrix already for some time, but so far you had to type
/join #freenode_#libreoffice:matrix.org
/join #libreoffice:libera.chat
in your matrix mobile app, or in the browser app know the bridge exists and select from the list, now you can just search in the available matrix rooms for LibreOffice and join. Or use this invitation link. This should be a convenient method to join a chat with other LibreOffice users for people who otherwise don't use IRC or don't want to install an IRC app just for this on their mobile, smartphone, tablet..

The #libreoffice IRC channel and thus the LibreOffice matrix room is dedicated to user questions around all LibreOffice applications. Join and enjoy, get help and help others.

Tooting with Mastodon

Trying Mastodon at mammut.space with my usual username, also on mastodon.host, mastodon.technology, social.tchncs.de and techn.ical.ist, no idea yet if or where I'll stay. It has potential. Will it survive longer than identi.ca?
Pick your instance.

Lesen! Big Data Psychometrik

Es ist nicht so wie du denkst. Es ist schlimmer.
Ich habe nur gezeigt, dass es die Bombe gibt über Psychometriken mit Hilfe von Big Data, den Big Five Persönlichkeitsdimensionen, das Ocean-Modell, und was die Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) und Cambridge Analytica mit Politmarketing, Microtargeting, Breitbart News und dem Brexit und Trump zu tun haben.

Fake News war gestern, jetzt ist Dark Posts.

Update: 2018-03-19
Artikel ist jetzt hinter Paywall und in der Internet Archive Wayback Machine.