The Nationalbibliothek (German National Library) is collecting the entire contents of the blogosphere . . . and if you don't co-operate, you're facing a €10,000 fine!
According to the Financial Times, the shock strategy to bend the web to the national library's will at first provoked delight as bloggers sniffed the faint scent of immortality, unaware of the repercussions of non-compliance. One Robert Basic enthused: "My parents are never going to believe I'm going to be catalogued by the German national library."
It didn't take long, though, for news of the financial big stick to spread across cyberspace. One concerned citizen named "night watchman" declared that "the hassle of submitting pages and the threat of fines would kill the German-speaking internet as a forum of free speech".
Another suggested on heise.de: "Every home page owner should shunt them a pdf [file] with a copy of their website in highest quality, preferably all on the same day. Then [the library's] server would burst."
Aha! So it really is Deutches Cyberlebensraum uber alles, eh? Cue the moral outrage! To the (cyber-) Barricades!
The library had indeed in 2006 been mandated by the government to "collect web publications" and fine the uncooperative.
However, this applies to "the 20,000 publishers and academic institutions registered with the library [who] are obliged to submit web material to the library's server".
Oh. Well. As you were, then.
Posted by Nicholas at November 25, 2008 08:40 AM
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