5 ms·

TIL Project Gutenberg is blocked in Germany.

skytreader 6y ago
Technically, Project Gutenberg blocks Germany. Anyway this also surprised me last year! Protip: Main PG is blocking DE IPs but mirrors aren't. Unfortunately, [mirrors](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/81t0ad/project_gutenberg_blocks_access_from_germany/ https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/81t0ad/project_guten...) don't have the convenient search infra, just the texts. If you can get the ID somehow, then you can navigate to the text in question. Maybe I missed a more convenient mirror. In which case I'd be really glad for links to convenient mirrors.
- emanueldima 6y ago
  https://www.gitenberg.org https://www.gitenberg.org
  - skytreader 6y ago
    Cooool! Exactly what I'm looking for. Actually think I've heard of this before (I follow one of the GH contributors) but realized, just now, it's the mirror I am looking for. Thanks!
- SamBam 6y ago
  Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg would be displeased.
mrwnmonm 6y ago
I live in a place governed by the military, and they like to block things. But I have no idea why a country like Germany would do that.
- emmelaich 6y ago
  Because of Mein Kampf perhaps? Then again it's on Amazon, do they block Amazon?
  - Vespasian 6y ago
    No, that book has been in the public domain in Germany since 2015. Since then several annotated editions have been published. IANAL, but it might be problematic to publish a modern version without any critical commentary as this could be interpreted as "glorifying naziism and the holocaust in public" which is a crime in Germany (§ 130 StGB [1]). Before 2015 it was not banned in a political sense. The state of Bavaria claimed Hitlers copyright after the war and did not grant any rights to republish it. Ownership or sale of historical editions was always possible. The project Gutenberg block is by them because they lost a copyright court case in 2018 (which was about ~20 books by 3 authors). See the other comment with a detailed link. They were not required to deny access to the complete site but only to these specific works. [1]https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p1333 https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_st...
- bloak 6y ago
  This might have something to do with it: https://cand.pglaf.org/germany/index.html https://cand.pglaf.org/germany/index.html (Thomas Mann and Alfred Döblin are out of copyright in the USA, but not in Germany, but obviously there's more to it than that because different countries having different copyright durations is a very normal situation.)
  - ernesth 6y ago
    There is nothing more to it: Project Gutenberg distributed books in Germany that are not in the Public Domain there. The rights holder sued. PG was condemned to stop distributing those books in Germany. PG complied by blocking the whole site in Germany. No country has the same copyright law as USA. In those other countries, Project Gutenberg has not yet been sued. (Edit: and probably in some countries, people downloading from PG would be the only one in illegality, not PG) For example Alfred Döblin's and Thomas Mann's books are not in the public domain in all of Europe, in most of South America, or in Australia.

Technically, Project Gutenberg blocks Germany. Anyway this also surprised me last year! Protip: Main PG is blocking DE IPs but mirrors aren't. Unfortunately, [mirrors](https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/81t0ad/project_gutenberg_blocks_access_from_germany/ https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/81t0ad/project_guten...) don't have the convenient search infra, just the texts. If you can get the ID somehow, then you can navigate to the text in question. Maybe I missed a more convenient mirror. In which case I'd be really glad for links to convenient mirrors.

emanueldima 6y ago
https://www.gitenberg.org https://www.gitenberg.org
- skytreader 6y ago
  Cooool! Exactly what I'm looking for. Actually think I've heard of this before (I follow one of the GH contributors) but realized, just now, it's the mirror I am looking for. Thanks!
SamBam 6y ago
Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg would be displeased.

mrwnmonm 6y ago

I live in a place governed by the military, and they like to block things. But I have no idea why a country like Germany would do that.

emmelaich 6y ago
Because of Mein Kampf perhaps? Then again it's on Amazon, do they block Amazon?
- Vespasian 6y ago
  No, that book has been in the public domain in Germany since 2015. Since then several annotated editions have been published. IANAL, but it might be problematic to publish a modern version without any critical commentary as this could be interpreted as "glorifying naziism and the holocaust in public" which is a crime in Germany (§ 130 StGB [1]). Before 2015 it was not banned in a political sense. The state of Bavaria claimed Hitlers copyright after the war and did not grant any rights to republish it. Ownership or sale of historical editions was always possible. The project Gutenberg block is by them because they lost a copyright court case in 2018 (which was about ~20 books by 3 authors). See the other comment with a detailed link. They were not required to deny access to the complete site but only to these specific works. [1]https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#p1333 https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_st...
bloak 6y ago
This might have something to do with it: https://cand.pglaf.org/germany/index.html https://cand.pglaf.org/germany/index.html (Thomas Mann and Alfred Döblin are out of copyright in the USA, but not in Germany, but obviously there's more to it than that because different countries having different copyright durations is a very normal situation.)
- ernesth 6y ago
  There is nothing more to it: Project Gutenberg distributed books in Germany that are not in the Public Domain there. The rights holder sued. PG was condemned to stop distributing those books in Germany. PG complied by blocking the whole site in Germany. No country has the same copyright law as USA. In those other countries, Project Gutenberg has not yet been sued. (Edit: and probably in some countries, people downloading from PG would be the only one in illegality, not PG) For example Alfred Döblin's and Thomas Mann's books are not in the public domain in all of Europe, in most of South America, or in Australia.