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Tron (hacker)
Encyclopedia
Boris Floricic, better known by his pseudonym
Tron (8 June 1972 – 17–22 October 1998), was a German
hacker
and phreaker
whose death in unclear circumstances has led to various conspiracy theories
. He is also known for his Diplom
thesis presenting one of the first public implementations of a telephone with built-in voice encryption, the "Cryptophon
".
Floricic's pseudonym was a reference to the eponymous character in the 1982 Disney
film Tron
. Floricic was interested in defeating computer security mechanisms; amongst other hacks, he broke the security of the German phonecard and produced working clones. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in jail for the physical theft of a public phone (for reverse engineering
purposes) but the sentence was suspended on probation
.
From December 2005 to January 2006, media attention was drawn
to Floricic when his parents and Andy Müller-Maguhn
brought legal action in Germany against the Wikimedia Foundation
and its German chapter Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
The first preliminary injunction
tried to stop Wikipedia
from publishing Floricic's full name, and a second one followed, temporarily preventing the use of the German Internet domain
wikipedia.de as a redirect
address to the German Wikipedia
.
(West Berlin
at the time). His interests in school focused on technical subjects. He left school after ten years and completed a three-year Vocational education
(Berufsausbildung) offered by the Technical University of Berlin
and graduated as a specialist in communication electronics with a major in information technology
(Kommunikationselektroniker, Fachrichtung Informationstechnik). He subsequently earned the Abitur
and began studies in computer science
at the Technical University of Applied Sciences of Berlin.
During his studies, Floricic attended an internship with a company developing electronic security systems. In the winter term 1997/1998 Floricic successfully finished his studies and published his diploma thesis, in which he developed and described the "Cryptophon
", an ISDN
telephone with built-in voice encryption. Since parts of this work, which were to be provided by another student, were missing, he could not finish his work on the Cryptophon
. His thesis, however, was rated as exceptional by the evaluating university professor. After graduation, Floricic applied for work, but was unsuccessful. In his spare time he continued, among other activities, his work on the Cryptophon
.
systems. As part of his research he exchanged ideas and proposals with other hackers and scientists. On the mailing list
"tv-crypt", operated by a closed group of Pay TV hackers, Floricic reported about himself in 1995 that his interests were microprocessor
s, programming language
s, electronics of all kinds, digital radio data transmission and especially breaking the security of systems perceived as secure. He claimed to have created working clones of a chipcard used for British Pay TV and would continue his work to defeat the security of the Nagravision/Syster scrambling system which was then used by the German Pay TV provider "PREMIERE
".
Later, American scientists outlined a theoretical attack against SIM
cards used for GSM mobile phones. Together with hackers from the Chaos Computer Club
, Floricic successfully created a working clone of such a SIM card, thus showing the practicability of the attack. He also engaged in cloning the German phonecard and succeeded. While Floricic only wanted to demonstrate the insecurity of the system, the proven insecurity was also abused by criminals which led to the attention of law enforcement agencies and the German national phone operator Deutsche Telekom
. After Deutsche Telekom changed the system, Floricic tried to remove a complete public card phone from a booth by force (using a sledgehammer
) on 3 March 1995 in order to, as he told, adapt his phonecard simulators to the latest changes. He and a friend were, however, caught by the police upon this attempt. Floricic was later sentenced to a prison term of 15 months which was suspended on probation.
. As IDEA is patented, the cipher was implemented on a replaceable daughter module which would have allowed the user to exchange IDEA for another (probably patent-unencumbered) algorithm. In addition, the system was about to be supplemented with a key exchange protocol based on the asymmetric algorithm RSA in order to achieve security against compromised remote stations.
The Cryptophon is built on the foundation of an 8051 compatible microprocessor which controls the whole system and peripherals (e.g. ISDN controller, keypad and display). For the cryptography Floricic used cheap DSP
s from Texas Instruments
which he scrapped out of old computer modem
s, but which could also be bought at affordable prices. As this type of DSP is not powerful enough for the cryptography algorithm chosen, Floricic used two of them for the Cryptophon - one for sending and one for receiving. Floricic developed both the operating software of the phone as well as the cryptography implementation in the DSPs. He found a new way to implement IDEA to save significant processing time.
in the Neukölln
district of Berlin
on 22 October after being hanged from a waistbelt wrapped around his neck. The cause of death was officially recorded as suicide
. Some of his peers in the Chaos Computer Club, as well as his family members and some outside critics, have been vocal in their assertions that Floricic may have been murdered. It is argued that his activities in the areas of Pay TV
cracking and voice scrambling might have disturbed the affairs of an intelligence agency
or organized crime
enough to provide a motive.
The German journalist Burkhard Schröder published a book about the death titled "Tron - Tod eines Hackers" ("Tron - Death of a Hacker") in 1999 in which he presents the facts about the case known at the time. Because he concludes that Floricic committed suicide, the author was harshly criticized by both members of the Chaos Computer Club and Floricic's parents.
court against Wikimedia Foundation Inc. because its freely editable online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, mentioned the full name in its German language version. The order prohibited the Foundation from mentioning the full name on any website under the domain "wikipedia.org". It furthermore required the Foundation to name a representative in Germany within two weeks following the decision.
This was widely reported in the Dutch and German press. The initial order was mistakenly addressed to Saint Petersburg, Russia
rather than to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
; this was corrected five days later.
On 17 January 2006, a second preliminary injunction from a court in Berlin prohibited the Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. local chapter from linking to the German Wikipedia
, resulting in the change of the wikipedia.de address from a link to German Wikipedia to a page explaining the situation, although the page did not mention Tron. Despite media reports to the contrary, the German Wikipedia itself was never closed or inaccessible in Germany. Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. confirmed to the Internet news site golem.de that the new injunction was related to the prior case against the Wikimedia Foundation and was issued on behalf of the same plaintiffs. Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. was reported as intending to fight the injunction, arguing that no valid case was presented and the freedom of the press must be defended.
As Müller-Maguhn, one of the spokespersons of the Chaos Computer Club, was deeply involved in the case on the side of the plaintiffs, some media reported this as a case of "Chaos Computer Club against Wikipedia". The Chaos Computer Club had issued a public statement that this was a case between a few of its members and Wikipedia, and that the CCC itself did not take any position in the matter.
The Austrian online magazine "futurezone" interviewed Andy Müller-Maguhn on 19 January 2006 about the case and its background. Maguhn admitted that the true reason behind the incident was a fictitious work recently published by a German author in which the main character had the same (civil) name as Floricic. The parents sent a protest to the publisher but were turned down with the argument that the German Wikipedia was using the name as well. Müller-Maguhn then asked the German Wikipedia to remove the name, but was turned down for a number of reasons, including failure to present proof that he was entitled to speak and act on behalf of the parents.
On 9 February 2006, the injunction against Wikimedia Deutschland was overturned. The plaintiffs appealed to the Berlin state court, but were turned down in May 2006.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Tron (8 June 1972 – 17–22 October 1998), was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
and phreaker
Phreaking
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. As telephone networks have become computerized, phreaking has become closely...
whose death in unclear circumstances has led to various conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
. He is also known for his Diplom
Diplom
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland , Greece, Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Ukraine...
thesis presenting one of the first public implementations of a telephone with built-in voice encryption, the "Cryptophon
Cryptophon
Cryptophon is an ISDN-Telephone with integrated voice encryption developed by Boris Floricic . It was created during 1997 and 1998 for his diploma thesis at the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin...
".
Floricic's pseudonym was a reference to the eponymous character in the 1982 Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
film Tron
Tron (film)
Tron is a 1982 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Lisberger, and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It stars Jeff Bridges as the protagonist Kevin Flynn; Bruce Boxleitner in a dual role as security program Tron and Tron's "User", computer programmer Alan Bradley; Cindy...
. Floricic was interested in defeating computer security mechanisms; amongst other hacks, he broke the security of the German phonecard and produced working clones. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in jail for the physical theft of a public phone (for reverse engineering
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
purposes) but the sentence was suspended on probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
.
From December 2005 to January 2006, media attention was drawn
Streisand effect
The Streisand effect is a primarily online phenomenon in which an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely...
to Floricic when his parents and Andy Müller-Maguhn
Andy Müller-Maguhn
Andy Müller-Maguhn is a member of the German hacker association the Chaos Computer Club. He had been a member since 1986, and in 1990 was appointed as a spokesman for the club....
brought legal action in Germany against the Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is an American non-profit charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States, and organized under the laws of the state of Florida, where it was initially based...
and its German chapter Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
Eingetragener Verein
Eingetragener Verein is a legal status for a registered voluntary association in Germany and Austria. While any group may be called a Verein, registration as eingetragener Verein holds many legal benefits because a registered association may legally function as a corporate body rather than just...
The first preliminary injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
tried to stop Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
from publishing Floricic's full name, and a second one followed, temporarily preventing the use of the German Internet domain
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
wikipedia.de as a redirect
URL redirection
URL redirection, also called URL forwarding and the very similar technique domain redirection also called domain forwarding, are techniques on the World Wide Web for making a web page available under many URLs.- Similar domain names :...
address to the German Wikipedia
German Wikipedia
The German Wikipedia is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and mostly publicly editable online encyclopedia.Founded in March 2001, it is the second-oldest and, with over articles, the second-largest edition of Wikipedia, behind the English Wikipedia...
.
Early life, education
Floricic grew up in Gropiusstadt, a suburb in southern BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
(West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
at the time). His interests in school focused on technical subjects. He left school after ten years and completed a three-year Vocational education
Vocational education
Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...
(Berufsausbildung) offered by the Technical University of Berlin
Technical University of Berlin
The Technische Universität Berlin is a research university located in Berlin, Germany. Translating the name into English is discouraged by the university, however paraphrasing as Berlin Institute of Technology is recommended by the university if necessary .The TU Berlin was founded...
and graduated as a specialist in communication electronics with a major in information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
(Kommunikationselektroniker, Fachrichtung Informationstechnik). He subsequently earned the Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
and began studies in computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at the Technical University of Applied Sciences of Berlin.
During his studies, Floricic attended an internship with a company developing electronic security systems. In the winter term 1997/1998 Floricic successfully finished his studies and published his diploma thesis, in which he developed and described the "Cryptophon
Cryptophon
Cryptophon is an ISDN-Telephone with integrated voice encryption developed by Boris Floricic . It was created during 1997 and 1998 for his diploma thesis at the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin...
", an ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network
Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network...
telephone with built-in voice encryption. Since parts of this work, which were to be provided by another student, were missing, he could not finish his work on the Cryptophon
Cryptophon
Cryptophon is an ISDN-Telephone with integrated voice encryption developed by Boris Floricic . It was created during 1997 and 1998 for his diploma thesis at the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin...
. His thesis, however, was rated as exceptional by the evaluating university professor. After graduation, Floricic applied for work, but was unsuccessful. In his spare time he continued, among other activities, his work on the Cryptophon
Cryptophon
Cryptophon is an ISDN-Telephone with integrated voice encryption developed by Boris Floricic . It was created during 1997 and 1998 for his diploma thesis at the Technische Fachhochschule Berlin...
.
Interests
Floricic was highly interested in electronics and security systems of all kinds. He engaged in, amongst other things, attacks against the German phonecard and Pay TVPay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
systems. As part of his research he exchanged ideas and proposals with other hackers and scientists. On the mailing list
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
"tv-crypt", operated by a closed group of Pay TV hackers, Floricic reported about himself in 1995 that his interests were microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
s, programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s, electronics of all kinds, digital radio data transmission and especially breaking the security of systems perceived as secure. He claimed to have created working clones of a chipcard used for British Pay TV and would continue his work to defeat the security of the Nagravision/Syster scrambling system which was then used by the German Pay TV provider "PREMIERE
Premiere (pay television network)
Sky Deutschland AG, branded as Sky, is a German media company which operates the first pay television platform in Germany and Austria, offering several channels of digital content via satellite and cable....
".
Later, American scientists outlined a theoretical attack against SIM
Subscriber Identity Module
A subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module is an integrated circuit that securely stores the International Mobile Subscriber Identity and the related key used to identify and authenticate subscriber on mobile telephony devices .A SIM is held on a removable SIM card, which...
cards used for GSM mobile phones. Together with hackers from the Chaos Computer Club
Chaos Computer Club
The Chaos Computer Club is an organization of hackers. The CCC is based in Germany and other German-speaking countries.The CCC describes itself as "a galactic community of life forms, independent of age, sex, race or societal orientation, which strives across borders for freedom of...
, Floricic successfully created a working clone of such a SIM card, thus showing the practicability of the attack. He also engaged in cloning the German phonecard and succeeded. While Floricic only wanted to demonstrate the insecurity of the system, the proven insecurity was also abused by criminals which led to the attention of law enforcement agencies and the German national phone operator Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....
. After Deutsche Telekom changed the system, Floricic tried to remove a complete public card phone from a booth by force (using a sledgehammer
Sledgehammer
A sledgehammer is a tool consisting of a large, flat head attached to a lever . The head is typically made of metal. The sledgehammer can apply more impulse than other hammers, due to its large size. Along with the mallet, it shares the ability to distribute force over a wide area...
) on 3 March 1995 in order to, as he told, adapt his phonecard simulators to the latest changes. He and a friend were, however, caught by the police upon this attempt. Floricic was later sentenced to a prison term of 15 months which was suspended on probation.
Cryptophon
"Cryptophon" was the name Floricic chose for his prototype of an ISDN telephone with built-in voice encryption. It was created in the winter term 1997/1998 as part of his diploma thesis titled "Realisierung einer Verschlüsselungstechnik für Daten im ISDN B-Kanal" (German, meaning, "Implementation of Cryptography for Data contained in the ISDN Bearer channel"). Floricic focused on making the Cryptophon cheap and easy to build for hobbyists. The phone encrypts telephone calls using the symmetric encryption algorithm IDEAInternational Data Encryption Algorithm
In cryptography, the International Data Encryption Algorithm is a block cipher designed by James Massey of ETH Zurich and Xuejia Lai and was first described in 1991. As a block cipher, it is also symmetric. The algorithm was intended as a replacement for the Data Encryption Standard[DES]...
. As IDEA is patented, the cipher was implemented on a replaceable daughter module which would have allowed the user to exchange IDEA for another (probably patent-unencumbered) algorithm. In addition, the system was about to be supplemented with a key exchange protocol based on the asymmetric algorithm RSA in order to achieve security against compromised remote stations.
The Cryptophon is built on the foundation of an 8051 compatible microprocessor which controls the whole system and peripherals (e.g. ISDN controller, keypad and display). For the cryptography Floricic used cheap DSP
Digital signal processor
A digital signal processor is a specialized microprocessor with an architecture optimized for the fast operational needs of digital signal processing.-Typical characteristics:...
s from Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
which he scrapped out of old computer modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
s, but which could also be bought at affordable prices. As this type of DSP is not powerful enough for the cryptography algorithm chosen, Floricic used two of them for the Cryptophon - one for sending and one for receiving. Floricic developed both the operating software of the phone as well as the cryptography implementation in the DSPs. He found a new way to implement IDEA to save significant processing time.
Death
Floricic disappeared on 17 October 1998 and was found dead in a local park in BritzBritz
Britz is a German locality within the Berlin borough of Neukölln.-History:The village of Britzig was first mentioned in 1273. It was incorporated by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act...
in the Neukölln
Neukölln
Neukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city and was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city...
district of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
on 22 October after being hanged from a waistbelt wrapped around his neck. The cause of death was officially recorded as suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
. Some of his peers in the Chaos Computer Club, as well as his family members and some outside critics, have been vocal in their assertions that Floricic may have been murdered. It is argued that his activities in the areas of Pay TV
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
cracking and voice scrambling might have disturbed the affairs of an intelligence agency
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
or organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
enough to provide a motive.
The German journalist Burkhard Schröder published a book about the death titled "Tron - Tod eines Hackers" ("Tron - Death of a Hacker") in 1999 in which he presents the facts about the case known at the time. Because he concludes that Floricic committed suicide, the author was harshly criticized by both members of the Chaos Computer Club and Floricic's parents.
Naming controversy
As Floricic's family did not wish his full name (Boris Floricic) to be used, many German newspapers referred to him as "Boris F." On 14 December 2005 his parents obtained a temporary restraining order in a BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
court against Wikimedia Foundation Inc. because its freely editable online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, mentioned the full name in its German language version. The order prohibited the Foundation from mentioning the full name on any website under the domain "wikipedia.org". It furthermore required the Foundation to name a representative in Germany within two weeks following the decision.
This was widely reported in the Dutch and German press. The initial order was mistakenly addressed to Saint Petersburg, Russia
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
rather than to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
; this was corrected five days later.
German Wikipedia
The German Wikipedia is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and mostly publicly editable online encyclopedia.Founded in March 2001, it is the second-oldest and, with over articles, the second-largest edition of Wikipedia, behind the English Wikipedia...
, resulting in the change of the wikipedia.de address from a link to German Wikipedia to a page explaining the situation, although the page did not mention Tron. Despite media reports to the contrary, the German Wikipedia itself was never closed or inaccessible in Germany. Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. confirmed to the Internet news site golem.de that the new injunction was related to the prior case against the Wikimedia Foundation and was issued on behalf of the same plaintiffs. Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. was reported as intending to fight the injunction, arguing that no valid case was presented and the freedom of the press must be defended.
As Müller-Maguhn, one of the spokespersons of the Chaos Computer Club, was deeply involved in the case on the side of the plaintiffs, some media reported this as a case of "Chaos Computer Club against Wikipedia". The Chaos Computer Club had issued a public statement that this was a case between a few of its members and Wikipedia, and that the CCC itself did not take any position in the matter.
The Austrian online magazine "futurezone" interviewed Andy Müller-Maguhn on 19 January 2006 about the case and its background. Maguhn admitted that the true reason behind the incident was a fictitious work recently published by a German author in which the main character had the same (civil) name as Floricic. The parents sent a protest to the publisher but were turned down with the argument that the German Wikipedia was using the name as well. Müller-Maguhn then asked the German Wikipedia to remove the name, but was turned down for a number of reasons, including failure to present proof that he was entitled to speak and act on behalf of the parents.
On 9 February 2006, the injunction against Wikimedia Deutschland was overturned. The plaintiffs appealed to the Berlin state court, but were turned down in May 2006.
Further reading
- Burkhard Schröder: Tron: Tod eines Hackers ("Tron: Death of a hacker"). rororo, 1999, ISBN 3-499-60857-X
External links
- Spiegel Online: "How a Dead Hacker Shut Down Wikipedia Germany", 20 January 2006
- Wired.com: "Out of Chaos Comes Order", by David Hudson, 28 December 1998 (about the suicide)
- Possenspiel um Wikipedia (Die ZeitDie ZeitDie Zeit is a German nationwide weekly newspaper that is highly respected for its quality journalism.With a circulation of 488,036 and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly newspaper...
online edition) - tronland.org (Site dedicated to Tron's memory)