UseNeXT threatens with steps after critical blog post

German usenet provider UseNeXT was deeply dissatisfied with a critical article posted on buildblog.de. So dissatisfied in fact, that it charged its lawyers with the task to have the article removed from the Web.

UseNeXT is a big player in the usenet scene. Roughly 90% of usenet contributions in German comes from UseNeXT users. On the total number of usenet posts, the fraction of contributions is 24%.

According to the solicitors, the article contains information that harms the good image of UseNeXT and should therefore be removed from the Internet. That is correct: the article is far from flattering about UseNeXT. However, it seems questionable whether the article can be qualified as slander, since the criticism seems well founded and thorough.

The article reveals UseNeXT as a company that has as primary goal to make money by offering access to media without compensating artists and producers for their efforts.

In doing so, the author elucidates, UseNeXT act against the goal of usenet, which was developed as a platform for exchanging information. Usenet, namely, has a well functioning takedown procedure in case posts contain harmful of illegal information. UseNeXT lacks such a procedure. Its files are not posted on usenet servers, but on UseNeXT’s own server parks.

Usenet is only used to post the links to the files in order to inform UseNeXT users. The rest of the usenet community has no access to these files. The author finds this sanctimonious: UseNeXT claims to serve the public by enabling the free spread of knowledge, but limits this function to people who get a –paid- subscription.

Buildblog.de says, in response to the solicitors’ letter, that its information is correct and refuses to take down the article.