Tag Archives: opinion

Das BGH-Urteil zur VG-Wort-Ausschüttung

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Es ist schon ein wenig überraschend, wie sich in Deutschland die Diskussion über das jüngste BGH-Urteil zum Urheberrecht und zur Verteilung der Kopierabgabe (und der finanziell weit weniger ergiebigen Bibliotheksabgabe) durch die VG Wort gestaltet: da wird von Vielen so getan, als ob uns der BGH etwas Neues sagt, was nicht schon längst auf europäischer Ebene geklärt war (siehe EuGH-Urteil HP vs. Reprobel), da giften sich Autoren, die die Verleger in ihrer Haltung unterstützen und Autoren, die die Verleger als Ausbeuter ansehen in sozialen Medien und anderen öffentlichen Stellungnahmen in manchmal recht unfeiner Weise an – häufig ohne verstanden zu haben, um was es eigentlich geht. Und dann teilen uns auch noch Philosophen(!) ihre maßgebliche Interpretation schwieriger urheberrechtlicher Fragestellungen mit – das hat durchaus manchmal etwas Belustigendes, auch wenn das Thema natürlich für alle Beteiligten sehr ernst ist. 

Dass das deutsche System der Verteilung der Urheberrechtsabgaben auf Kopien in seiner gegenwärtigen Form – Aufteilung auf Autoren und Verlage zu gleichen Teilen – europarechtswidrig ist, war im übrigen seit dem o.g. Reprobel-Urteil längst klar. Aus demselben Urteil geht auch hervor, dass wir hier nicht nur Zeuge einer Umverteilung von Geldern von den Verlegern hin zu den Autoren werden, sondern auch, dass die eingesammelten Beträge der Kopierabgabe europaweit in Ländern mit vergleichbaren Systemen (also z.B. Deutschland, Frankreich, Belgien, Niederlande) einen starken Rückgang erleben werden (aufgrund des Verbots der doppelten Abgabenerhebung pro Gerät und Kopie bei Kopierern), von der hauptsächlich die Gerätehersteller und –importeure dieser Geräte profitieren werden; ein weiterer Grund für den starken Rückgang der Ertragskraft der Kopierabgabe liegt in der wachsenden Bedeutung von virtuell gespeicherten Kopien – die Cloud unterliegt nun mal keiner Kopierabgabe und die Bedeutung der klassischen Speichermedien wird auch in Zukunft weiterhin drastisch abnehmen.

Aus all dem ergibt sich daher ohnehin schon, dass das bestehende System der Verteilung der Kopierabgabe durch die VG Wort nicht nur rechtswidrig, sondern auch aus technologischen Gründen nicht zukunftsfähig ist und man früher oder später über ein grundlegend neues System der Autorenentlohnung für “fair use”-Kopien nachdenken muss.

Länder wie Norwegen oder Finnland sind da schon sehr viel weiter. Dort gibt es vom Steuerzahler finanzierte Fonds, aus denen die Autoren für Kopien ihrer Werke kompensiert werden, und man muss kein Hellseher sein um zu verstehen, dass auch in Deutschland früher oder später ein nicht nach Speichermedien diskriminierendes und von tatsächlichem Kopieren unabhängiges System eingeführt werden wird, welches aus Steuermitteln getragen sein wird. 

Dass das Reprobel-Urteil und sein BGH-Folgeurteil selbstredend zu einer starken Reduktion publizierter Titel – insbesondere “riskante” weniger marktgängige Titel – und sehr wahrscheinlich auch zu einem tendenziellen Absenken der generellen Autorenhonrare in Deutschland führen wird, sei nur nebenbei bemerkt. Einige Verlage werden wegen erheblicher rückwirkender Forderungen wohl in die Insolvenz getrieben werden. Es sei denn, man findet schnell ein vernünftiges Nachfolgemodell.

Anstatt sich also in unsinnigen Zankereien zu verlieren, sollten alle Beteiligten sich schnellstmöglich zusammensetzen und ein zukunftsfähiges und nachhaltiges Nachfolgemodell entwickeln; dabei muss selbstverständlich auch der Gesetzgeber einbezogen werden. Zum Nulltarif, d.h. ohne finanzielle Einbeziehung der öffentlichen Haushalte und des Steuerzahlers wird eine vernünftige und rechtskonforme Lösung im Sinne aller Beteiligten wohl nicht zu haben sein. 

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

News from Retardistan (6): “Citizen Arrest”

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My opinion on the so-called “citizen arrest” of refugees/migrants by self-proclaimed vigilante groups in Bulgaria (which consist mainly of criminal thugs with a long track record of delinquency, and of other “subjects” from the dregs of the Bulgarian society):

The so-called “citizen arrest”, the detention of people who cross the border by citizens who are not part of the police forces or other entitled state organs, is a criminal act – as is obvious by the law, and by the statements of the Bulgarian Attorney General and by the Ministry of Interior. It is according to the Bulgarian Penal Code a criminal offence, punishable with up to six years prison. The vigilante are obviously criminals, and those who applaud their actions are applauding the actions of criminals.

It is up to the relevant authorities alone to exercise law and order. It is up to the relevant authorities alone to decide if someone that entered the country has broken any law by doing so. It is up to the relevant authorities alone to decide if someone has a right to stay in the country or not. It is up to the relevant authorities alone to decide if someone will be granted asylum or not.

A constitutional state can under no circumstances allow that self-proclaimed groups arm themselves and declare themselves as taking over part of the tasks and responsibilities of the government and the state institutions of the executive power. A constitutional state must guarantee at all times that he and he alone exercises the sole executive power and must guarantee at all times that the constitutional rights and human rights of Bulgarian citizens and all other people are respected and that they are protected by the law at all times. A constitutional state has a monopoly on the using of force and violence within clearly defined legitimate limits; any group or person who is acting outside this framework and without legitimacy must be considered a criminal and put on trial.

Politicians that promote or encourage such groups show that they are openly supporting criminal acts against people and against the constitutional system of Bulgaria. It goes without saying that such politicians are not fit for service; in case they have an office, they must immediately step down and face the legal consequences of their words and actions.

The relevant law enforcement institutions need to urgently scrutinize this obvious breach of the law by Bulgarian politicians. That goes also for politicians like Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who must step down immediately after his unsupportable statements and actions in this context, but also for ex-president Parvanov, or for ex-Foreign Minister Passy, and many others who openly support and promote criminal groups. (I am not even mentioning here for obvious reasons the ATAKA nutcases, the VMRO racists, the DPS mutra cronies and the so-called “patriots” from the right and left parties, whose activities should be also for many other reasons scrutinized by the law enforcement agencies.)

I am truly shocked by the huge support the bloodthirsty thugs who hunt down refugees and other people in Bulgaria who don’t look sufficiently “Bulgarian” with machetes, clubs, and other murder weapons have in public and social media and in all layers of Bulgarian society. The level of verbal and physical brutality, the open racism I witness every time I am in Bulgaria against minorities and vulnerable groups is deeply disturbing and I have recently more and more moments when I am becoming very pessimistic regarding the long-term perspectives for this country, which seems – as I think now frequently – to have lost its soul, heart and ethics. And even its mind. 

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

I love science!

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Scientific progress never stops – there seems to be no field in which day by day scientists make new discoveries. While I can of course not keep track of all of them, from time to time I come across something that really gets me interested. Such as this new study in the field of psychology. OK, that’s not the study itself but just a short media report on it, but don’t be such a language Nazi!

Because, as this study by scientists from the University of Michigan suggests, people obsessed with grammar are not as nice as the rest of us.

The study: the scientists showed three different sets of emails to a group of people; one set was with no mistakes, one set contained typos, and one set contained grammatical errors. The participants had to judge the three sets, and the individual participants showed of course differences in their attitude towards mistakes. The participants in this test underwent also psychological tests based on the so-called Big Five Personality index – and guess what? There is indeed a correlation between being an “agreeable” person and judging grammar errors lightly, as being not very important, and on the other hand being a “less agreeable” person who is more intolerant and harsh when it comes to accept grammatical errors.

In short: nice people accept typos and grammatical errors, not so nice people who care for orthography and correct grammar, score very low in the Big Five Personality index, and are therefore rightfully referred to as grammar Nazis.

Me thinks that this is wonderful news! Although, as a social scientist, I had at first some serious doubts regarding the chosen methodology, but then I realized that this is all not important. After all, I am an agreeable person with a high Big Five Personality index score.

It is wonderful news for various reasons:

School children will not need any longer to be tortured by less agreeable teachers who are so terribly intolerant as to insist on correct writing and grammar. We want these grammar Nazis out of school asap! If I think about how many traumas these children had to suffer – and all just because of some not so nice people who torture them with orthography and grammar, it just makes me sad.

Publishers will be very glad too – they will need no longer go through the process of proofreading and editing of texts. That will save them a lot of money, will make the books cheaper and the readers more happy! Just to think about that maybe several grammar policemen were tormenting the author with their unpleasant and unagreeable character, forcing him to correct his orthography, and – imagine! – even his grammatical errors is so sickening for me! Thank God that we will get rid of this pest now, and will be finally read texts that are free from the influence of the grammar Nazis. These new books will teach them to be more nice in the future! And for the hopeless cases: they should just let us agreeable people alone and stick to their Karl Kraus books…

And finally: this new scientific study is a relief for all of us. No more checking my writing for typos, no more thinking about how exactly I will formulate a sentence in order to express what I want to say – the empathic readers will understand probably (more or less) what I wanted to say, even when my grammar is a bit “creative” and my orthography “charming” – and whoever dares to correct me just proves that he has a character deficit. 

Isn’t that nice? I love science!

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

“Je suis Lahore” anyone?

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“Je suis Lahore” anyone? No? I see, the victims are “only” Pakistanis…
 
Sorry when I sound like a cynic, but this racism of the kindly-hearted that shows cheap solidarity only when the bomb explodes in our neighbourhood and when the victims belong to “us”, and keeps quiet when the killed, wounded and mutilated victims are for reasons of race, religion, or poverty not part of the species that deserves our sympathy or humanity, makes me want to throw up.
 
Same story like last year when all you could hear after the Paris bombing was a deafening silence about all the other similar terrorist attacks at almost exactly the same time in other parts of the world where the victims weren’t “our” people and therefore didn’t deserve any sign of solidarity or even to be mentioned as it seems.
 
I wonder what our so-called humanism is worth, when we are willing to apply it only to those who share a similar race, culture and social status with us. –
 
The answer is obvious.
© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Interesting Times

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What a week: a Presidential Candidate in the U.S. who has been endorsed almost at the same time by Vladimir Putin, David Duke (Ku Kux Klan), and Louis Farrakhan (Nation of Islam), and who is discussing in length (no pun intended) the size of his dick during a TV debate.

 
We are living in interesting times.
© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-6. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

News from Retardistan (2)

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Facebook: Your algorithm that suggests me to sign up for certain groups is a bit confused – fine. Sometimes I just have a laugh about your inadequate suggestions, and if your paying customers knew that you haven’t got a clue about me and my (and probably millions of other users) preferences in almost all areas of life, your shareholder value would drop by a few billion USD.
 
But that you allow people to form a group that calls for the execution of people with opposing political views, is a scandal. And I am not talking about the Daesh scum bags, I am talking about those Bulgarian citizens that form the group РАЗСТРЕЛ ЗА ВСИЧКИ ПРЕДАТЕЛСКИ КОПЕЛЕТА НА БЪЛГАРИЯ !! (Execution of all treacherous bastards in Bulgaria), a group that is filled with postings of racist, fascist, and xenophobic content – and the name of the group makes it clear what has according to the members to happen with those who are on the hate list of these morons.
 
This is not only hate speech, it is incitement to murder, and that is a crime according to the Bulgarian Criminal Code; a long term prison sentence is prescribed for that. How about that, Prosecutor’s Office – instead of harassing the Marginalia team that calls a racist, fascist and anti-Semite what he is, you should rather go after the proven law offenders that are a member of this group which advocates political murder. There are (at this moment) 1707 of them, all easily to identify. So do your job and bring them to justice! A few years in jail will serve them well.
And Facebook: what about deleting this group and the profiles of people who consider political murder a righteous thing?
© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-5. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Chitanka*

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Yes, and I am for free books. And free cars and free holidays in exotic locations. And of course for free entry to all matches of Borussia Dortmund. Everything must be for free for me because I am entitled to have it. And who are these teachers, doctors, journalists, lawyers, craftsmen anyway that ask money from me for the services I ask from them? We should boycott these capitalist swine.

IRONY button OFF

 

*A Bulgarian website that infringes authors and translators rights of books on a large scale.

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-5. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The feces of revisionism

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They promise to stage “Götterdämmerung“ – but their abilities are even not sufficient for “Hänschen klein“.

 

(with a friendly nod in the direction of Gottfried Benn)

 

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-5. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

An apology

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Just read the second article of Manol Glishev on Boris III.

Now I have to send out an apology to a lot of people. I called Glishev initially a “poet and intellectual“. To all poets and intellectuals – I am really sorry for that.

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-5. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Retardistan

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Manol Glishev is “rather amused“ – by what? By the death of 11,363 Jews who were sent to Treblinka by his idol and the blog post I wrote about it.

Manol Glishev is also inspired – he promised to write a poem/poems about this amusing topic. – “My funny Holocaust Haikus“ is the working title as I have heard.

And judging from his fine sense of humor, I am sure not to expect in vain a sitcom featuring Macedonian Jews cracking jokes in the gas chamber…soooo amusing – at least for a person with the character of a Manol Glishev.

© Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com, 2014-5. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without expressed and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Thomas Hübner and mytwostotinki.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.