FC: XS4ALL sued over hosting "Radikal" radical-left magazine

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Apr 15 2002 - 12:14:08 PDT

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    Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 14:06:49 +0200 (CEST)
    From: Sjoera Nas <sjoeraat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: XS4ALL sued after 5 years over Radikal-case
    Message-ID: <Pine.BSI.4.33L2.0204141358450.11022-100000at_private>
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
    X-UIDL: a4d100f2e20bc5c2b372c251aa840336
    
    Hello Declan,
    
    Please find a rough translation of a press release from XS4ALL below.
    Tomorrow morning at 9.30 AM we will stand in front of an Amsterdam judge
    because of the Radikal, a case dating from the previous century...
    
    Best wishes,
    Sjoera Nas, public affairs XS4ALL
    
    XS4ALL press release
    14 April 2002
    
    Last Thursday, Deutsche Bahn has initiated summary proceedings against
    Dutch Internetprovider XS4ALL. The judge of The Amsterdam court
    will deal with the case on the early morning of Monday 15 April. The
    German railroad company demands that XS4ALL immediately blocks the
    homepage of one of its users because of 2 articles from the German
    radical-left magazine Radikal, dating from 1996 and 1997. The articles
    have been online since their (paper) publication and contain instructions
    about the delaying of Castor-transports of nuclear waste. These transports
    have always been accompanied by massive protests from the german public.
    
    XS4ALL was summoned on Monday 8 April by lawyers of the Deutsche Bahn to
    remove the material. XS4ALL has a standard procedure to deal with
    complaints about illegal or infringing material. Following that procedure,
    XS4ALL asked DB to substantiate how this material is illegal under Dutch
    law.
    
    Instead, Deutsche Bahn responded last thursday by serving XS4ALL with
    a lawsuit. XS4ALL is very upset about the extremely short preparation
    time, especially in view of the fact that the materials have been online
    for 4 and 5 years respectively.
    
    In 1996 and 1997 the Radikal-case caused a lot of public upheaval, when
    German providers were summoned to make this specific homepage unavailable
    to their subscribers. The blocking was lifted twice, when it became clear
    how uneffective it was. Never have the Dutch or German authorities ordered
    XS4ALL to remove the material.
    
    Neither the Dutch nor German authorities have ever ordered
    XS4all to remove the material. On top of that, the paper publication was
    never forbidden in the Netherlands.
    
    In the European Directive for E-Commerce of 8 June 2000 the liability of
    internet service providers is defined in a very precise way. This
    directive should have been implemented in Dutch law by 17 January 2002.
    
    Now that the implementation-term has passed, the judge needs to explain
    current Dutch law according to the Directive. XS4ALL believes that its
    procedure to deal with complaints about illegal content is completely in
    agreement with the intentions of the Directive. Lacking any substantiation
    of the unmistakeable illegality of the material, it is up to the Dutch
    court to judge. If the judge, after all this time, decides that the
    material is illegal, XS4ALL will not hesitate to remove it.
    
    Homepage: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/radikal/
    XS4ALL procedure:
    http://www.xs4all.nl/overxs4all/auteursrecht/illegalcontent.html
    
    
    
    
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