German politician violates own two strikes out bill

Siegfried Kauder, a German politician of the Christian Democratic Party (CDU), has  infringed copyright twice, despite his own two strikes out bill.

When the announcement of Kauder’s two strikes out bill came, internet users took a good look at Kauder’s personal website. They found out Kauder didn’t have the license to use two pictures on his site. Kauder thereby infringed the photographer’s copyright. In Kauder’s proposed bill, this is strike one.

Via a website where German citizens can comment on their parliamentarians, an internet user declared that Kauder was infringing copyright by posting the pictures without licenses on his website. After Kauder was informed about the copyright infringement, he removed the pictures of his site. However, the pictures are still available on the website’s server, so Kauder is still infringing copyright. According to Kauder, he obtained the license to use the images, but according to the photographer he didn’t. By not removing the pictures from his server after the notification, Kauder is still infringing copyright. This is strike two.

According to Kauder’s two strikes out bill, a person that receives two strikes will be cut off from the internet for three weeks. Therefore, many Germans believe that Kauder must be excluded from the internet, serving as an example of his own bill.

Reference: Webwereld

By: Karen Groen