Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-01-16/Tron dispute

Editor's note: ''This article discusses a possible lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates this site. The Wikipedia Signpost takes no official position on this lawsuit.''

Dutch and German press sources report that the family of Boris Floricic, a.k.a. Tron, is suing the Wikimedia Foundation over the reporting of the hacker's real name in Wikipedia.

The German Chaos Computer Club affiliate, who gained fame within the group for cracking phone chips and digital television boxes, was found dead in 1998 in a Berlin park. Floricic had been hanged by a belt, the cause of death. Police ruled the death a suicide, and the Berlin prosecutor's office stopped its investigation in 2001. However, many of the club's members still suspect foul play may have been a factor.

The family's first announcement of the lawsuit was reportedly on 14 December, 2005. However, the notice was originally addressed to St. Petersburg, Russia, rather than the Foundation's address in St. Petersburg, Florida, causing some delay in the delivery of this information.

There is still a question as to whether a lawsuit has actually been filed. No proof has been submitted showing that such a lawsuit, or any legal action, has been taken. No public comment has been made by the Wikimedia Foundation or Wikimedia board members regarding the issue.

The Wikimedia Foundation is facing a privacy lawsuit in Germany. The German courts have ordered that the German Wikipedia must remove all forms of the hacker's complete civil name, and have issued an injunction that ordered the German chapter to cease redirecting www.wikipedia.de to de.wikipedia.org. Wikimedia Deutschland complied but its lawyers announced that they will appeal the decision, saying that Tron's civil name was public knowledge for a long time. Further information can be found here.
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