Bonum Certa Men Certa

Berlin police declined to investigate FSFE Nazi comparisons

posted by Roy Schestowitz on May 07, 2024,
updated May 07, 2024

Editor's note: Seeing that there is a 'bulk action' confiscation of domains critical of the FSFE and Debian (the Nazi Party would have approved of this move; Debian is now led by a German), and moreover as we did not fully reproduce this article when it had been published, today we make a full 'backup' copy of it, including images. Making it harder for censors to 'disappear' or 'vanish' unflattering content means they may stop bothering to do, or even trying to. Opponents of Techrights wondered aloud (in public) how to hijack techrights.org, i.e. the entire domain with almost 50,000 articles and many hundreds of thousands of important files. That was months ago. How very 'nazi' of them...


[Article 3 months old]

Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock.

Unwarranted Nazi comparisons are considered to be a serious crime in Germany, a country that has retained criminal speech laws even decades after the demise of Gobels.

In one case, a driver insulted a cyclist. For uttering the phrase a-hole, the driver was hit with a fine of EUR 1,600. Calling somebody a Nazi appears to be far more offensive, unless it is true.

In the open source software world, we can't find evidence of calling somebody a Nazi. What we do find is comparisons to censorship and the abolition of elections in the German FSFE.

FSFE leader Matthias Kirschner, who doesn't code, has been making complaints to the Berlin police asking them to help cover up news about FSFE canceling the Fellowship elections. Here is an example of a letter Berlin police have sent to volunteers:

Matthias Kirschner, FSFE, Berlin police, Nazi comparison, criminal speech, criminal defamation

The bulk of the complaint, written in German, concerns web sites displaying pictures of a Swastika. The last words of the complaint mention people trying to inform Kirschner's wife Kristina about all the women Kirschner sacked, Galia Mancheva and Susanne Eiswirt. Galia took legal action against the FSFE to obtain compensation. Galia complained about Kirschner coming to her home uninvited.

Most people would find the attempts to contact their wife far more disturbing than the Nazi comparisons. Why is the bit about Kirschner's wife only tacked on to the end of his police complaint? It seems that the Nazi comparisons have struck a chord with some people after the FSFE canceled the Fellowship elections.

In 2013, Germany prosecuted over 22,000 people for criminal speech and sent more than 1,000 people to prison for this "offence".. Nonetheless, they have decided not to proceed with a prosecution for the FSFE complaint about Nazi comparisons. Here is the letter Berlin police have sent to volunteers at the close of the investigation.

Matthias Kirschner, FSFE, Berlin police, Nazi comparison, criminal speech, criminal defamation

Background to the story

The last Fellowship election was conducted using the Cornell University CIVS online poll in 2017. The winner was an Irish Australian, the Debian Developer Daniel Pocock.

The Cornell University result page tells us that 1,532 people were register to vote in the election:

Matthias Kirschner, FSFE, Berlin police, Nazi comparison, criminal speech, criminal defamation

In the minutes of the 2019 annual meeting, we can see that just 26 people voted for Matthias Kirschner to be President of the FSFE for another two years. The other 1,500 voters were expelled by the changes to the FSFE constitution. Matthias Kirschner was the only candidate after he expelled all the fellowship.

Matthias Kirschner, FSFE, Berlin police, Nazi comparison, criminal speech, criminal defamation

In the last German elections before World War II, voters were only allowed to vote for one candidate too:

Matthias Kirschner, FSFE, Berlin police, Nazi comparison, criminal speech, criminal defamation

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

'India Today' is a Slopfarm, Sometimes 'Covering' "Linux" With Slop Images
New example of pure BS
 
Many Reports About Microsoft Layoffs Are LLM Slop Based on Other LLM Slop (From Microsoft-controlled LLMs That Downplay the Layoffs or Give Badly Outdated Data)
The LLM slopfarms also dilute/derank actual news about Linux by pushing Microsoft Azure instead; it's a spamfest!
When You Expose Corporate Crimes, Misconduct and Lies They Harasses and Troll You. Then You Write About the Harassment and Trolling and They Allege It's "All Personal".
protect women's safety
Gemini Links 15/03/2025: Bandcamp and DST
Links for the day
Links 15/03/2025: Albania TikTok Ban, No Skinnerboxes in Danish Schools
Links for the day
Sierra Leone: Android Up to Record Highs, Windows Falls to Record Lows of Almost 5% (15 Years Ago It Was 100%)
This is what happens when about 83% of Web requests come from mobile
Margarita Manterola (marga, Google) & Debian DebConf13 Swiss venue intrigue
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 14, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, March 14, 2025
Gemini Links 14/03/2025: Grizzy Bear and Prime Beats
Links for the day
Links 14/03/2025: ProPublica Admitting That It Uses Slop (Foolish Move), RIP Mark Klein
Links for the day
Windows is Fast Becoming Insignificant to Zimbabweans
based on this survey, less than 1 in 6 Web requests may originate from Windows
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Again, This Time Marketing
It's "bad marketing" to talk about layoffs
The Fall of the Open Source Initiative (OSI): The OSI Does Not Speak For You, OSI Staff Speaks for GAFAM/Microsoft (the Paymasters)
they speak for proprietary software companies, but they wear "open" on their sleeve
Microsoft Money Used for Abuse of Women and Against Journalism in Support of Women (the Victims)
"Never interrupt your opponent while he is in the middle of making a mistake."
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com and hamradio.my (in Planet Ubuntu) Are at It Again With LLM Slop About "Linux"
LLM slop does not save time
Links 14/03/2025: Chinese Tensions With Australia, Putin Turns Down Ceasefire
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/03/2025: Löjl and Docker Context Stuff
Links for the day
Links 14/03/2025: Scam Currencies in the US and Oligarchs (Including GAFAM) Controlling All the Major Policies
Links for the day
Antisemitic Attacks on Richard Matthew Stallman (RMS) in Wikipedia This Week
Did the man strike a nerve or what?
Bluewashing Ends DEI at IBM and at Red Hat (HR or Hiring Become Gender- and Race-Neutral)
All that "whitelist is racist" stuff is likely a thing of the past
Links 13/03/2025: Intel Rotates Figurehead and South Korea Imports Karen People From Myanmar
Links for the day
Meanwhile at Microsoft Canonical...
Promoting proprietary surveillance by a company that actively attacks Linux in a lot of ways
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 13, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, March 13, 2025
Links 13/03/2025: Calculators and Spreadsheets, Returning to a Human Internet
Links for the day
Links 13/03/2025: Further Assaults on Science and Education in the US
Links for the day
Expect XBox to Be Shut Down Like Skype
"hey hi"-washing fools nobody
Truth Hurts (Especially Some Dishonest and/or Greedy People), But Reporting Truth is What Makes Journalism Valuable to the General Public and Helps Protect Society From Abuse by Sociopaths or Pathological Liars
When it comes to reporting, we're on the side of female victims, not the men who strangle them.
New Paper Reveals the Web (and Net) Drowns in LLM Slop, "Linux" is Impacted Too
It will be getting harder to trust anything on the Web
Links 13/03/2025: RIP, Carl Lundström; Tesla (the Company, Not Scientist It Piggybacks) Besieged by Public Backlash
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/03/2025: MElon "Greek Tragedy" and Going Offline More
Links for the day
Richard Matthew Stallman, or rms (RMS), Turns 72 This Coming Weekend
This coming Sunday he deserves a cake
Links 13/03/2025: COVID-19 Legacies and "Modern" Cars as Spying Machines on Wheels
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 12, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 12, 2025