Two convicted murderers in Germany are suing online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, saying the site’s description of their murders infringes on their privacy.
The two men were sentenced to life in prison in 1993, but were released in 2007 and 2008. Their lawyer has cited a German law that says a criminal’s name must not be published after a certain amount of time has transpired.
”They should be able to lead a life without being publicly stigmatised” for their crime, he told The New York Times. ”A criminal has a right to privacy, too, and a right to be left alone.”
While the German version of the site has removed the names of the individuals from an article about their victim, a suit has been filed demanding their names be erased from English translations, putting the US site against the German legal system.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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