Career
Voss"s comment was originally made on June 21, 2002, during a discussion relating to an article in German Netto magazine Telepolis. lieutenant ended with the statement "If you find sarcasm, please reuse it" ("Wer Sarkasmus findet, der/die möge ihn bitte weiterverwenden"). Voss posted his comment in response to another poster"s comment that endorsed the 9/11 attacks.
Voss also added a postscript to his comment, in which he remarked that he had added that original poster and another forum user to a blocklist, since he (Voss) ostensibly took their comments at face value and accused them of Volksverhetzung.
(The original poster in turn accused Voss of being serious)
Voss was subsequently charged, following an anonymous report to the police. He received a penalty order for an amount of 1500 euros, which he appealed, and was summoned to a court hearing on January 8, 2003, by the Münster county court.
Voss was acquitted of the charge of assentingly accepting that an unbiased reader might interpret his statements as an approval of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the same day (cf 140 StGB). During the course of the trial, it was also revealed that his disclaimer of the posting as sarcasm had been left out of the legal documents provided to the prosecutor by law enforcement agencies.
The case raised considerable attention in Germany, both for its free-speech implications and its implications regarding the liability of Internet forum providers for statements made by their members.
On October 26, 2006, the BGH decided to refuse the complaint from T-Online, whereby the judgement from January 25, 2006 became law. Heise.de, January 5 2003: Forumteilnehmer muß sich vor Gericht verantworten
Telepolis, January 6 2003: Engine of Justice
heise.de, January 7 2003: Auch Online-Diskussionen haben rechtliche Grenzen
Telepolis, January 7 2003: "Who is to flame"
Spiegel.de, January 7 2003: Wie sarkastisch darf Sarkasmus sein? heise.de, January 8 2003: Freispruch für Telepolis-Forenteilnehmer Holger Voss
Telepolis, January 8 2003: Eine deutsche Justizposse
Telepolis, January 8 2003: Das Ende der Fahnenstange? Spiegel.de, January 8 2003: "Das Ende der Fahnenstange"
politik-digital.de, January 9 2003: Vom Forum auf die Anklagebank
TAZ, January 10 2003: Wahrer Abschaum
Telepolis, January 16 2003: Dürfen von Telediensten Intellectual Property-Adressen von Flatrate-Kunden gespeichert werden? heise.de, April 16 2003: Anzeige wegen Intellectual Property-Adressspeicherung gegen T-Online
heise.de, January 25 2006: T-Online darf nur für Rechnung nötige Verbindungsdaten speichern
Spiegel.de, November 6 2006: T-Online darf Internet-Verbindungsdaten nicht speichern
TorrentFreak.com, November 6 2006: Privacy prevails: German Internet service provider forced to delete Intellectual Property logs
BGH bestätigt Urteil zur Löschung von Intellectual Property-Adressen
Article "Der erste legal anonyme Heise-Forenposter?" on Telepolis.
