Maybe it’s time to think about taking the website and all software offline.

This will open the gates of hell, allowing lawyers to harass free software developers. Not because of the actual content of those proposed laws, because there is supposed to be an exemption for free software – but because there is a great tradition here in germany, where lawyers just make false claims and try to extort money from you. Can you safely ignore them? Should you seek legal council immediately? You never know. It’s best to avoid becoming a target in the first place.

Besides, the current wording is just an EU thing. It will have to be transformed into german law (and french law and spanish law …), which means our legislative bodies can screw up things big time. It’s quite possible that they won’t include that exemption or include it in a very vague and ambiguous way.

I’m really angry right now and hopefully I’ll think differently tomorrow.

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