Germany has always prided itself on being a nation of engineers. So it’s not surprising that unlike the British, who prefer to leave their confidential data on trains or lose it in the post, Germans opt for the technologically more advanced solution of making it available online to all comers (DE): Bei Einwohnermeldeämtern in Deutschland Read more »
As heise.de reports (German), the parliamentary group of the German Social Democrats is getting queasy about the draft copyright reform. The government recently agreed on a draft. The concerns voiced by centre-left MPs are not for the faint of heart. They recommend that the copying of works for private purposes should remain exempt from punishment. Read more »
To my great joy, today I discovered that two of my favourite radio stations – Deutschlandradio Kultur, and Deutschlandfunk – have recently started streaming their broadcasts in the truly free Ogg Vorbis format. (Better quality, too 🙂 Since these are public radio stations, they’re not just doing their listeners a favour. They are in fact Read more »
The usually excellent IP Watch is running a story on the effects of the proposed new German copyright law. The article centers on the chilling effects the draft law would have on research. One researcher’s scenario: “I will not be able to just use our highly sophisticated universitynetwork to read that publication,” said Rainer Kuhlen, Read more »