metzler gemetzel: she wants to censor image

yesterday afternoon 29.12.2004 14:44 we received an email [in german, but you can see it here] asking us to take down an image from our server.
we were given until the 31.12.2004 10:00 to do so.

the image in question is a photo montage showing someone, who looks alot like the former swiss federal councillor ruth metzler, hanging out at a nudist beach.

the context: there are 7 federal councillors who make up the executive branch of the swiss government. in december 2003 ruth metzler, then federal councillor and head of the department of police and justice, was voted out of office. it was tragic, but only if looked at from a certain angle. frau metzler was/is an extremly right-wing, almost neocon, young, dynamic politician. so on that level, no harm done. however when she was forced to leave people were outraged. mostly because she was replaced with the most right-wing and xenophobic politician this country has ever seen, christoph blocher, and also because this meant that from then on only one woman was present in the federal council.

this photo montage is trying to make fun of this by showing metzler actually enjoying her early (if forced) retirement.

the image is part of a satirical, political calendar for the year 2004 in which we photoshopped swiss political personalities in absurd and surreal situations. this work was meant to be humerous, satirical, artistic, provocative, yes, guilty of all these things, but not hurtful. it was inspired by the english equivalent naked mp calendar 2004 done by sickboy (that i cant seem to find online at the moment).

it is our conviction that people with public mandates are public figures, and as such have to be willing and able to put up with satire. i guess it would take a certain sense of humour and grandeur to appreciate such a satirical depiction. but apparently frau metzler does not seem to possess these traits.

past cases have proven that it is quite ridiculous to ask people to remove content from the internet. in a case like this one, it might even get more people to see the image in question than was originally the case. this statement is in no way meant as a threat. just stating the obvious, something which frau metzler and her lawyer husband might not really have thought through properly.

after the recent scandal surrounding swiss artist hirschhorn i hasten to add: this project was NOT funded by any federal grant in any way.

what are we going to do about this? what are our options here?

A. leave the image up and risk a big mess with possibly a trial and a pricy bill to pay

ideally this is what we would like to do. however we would have to feel quite a huge community support to take this stance. an amount of support, that up untill now we have not felt. because after all, lets face it, we are one of the many blogs that have maybe 5 to 6 readers, and thats on a good day.
we neither have the money for a trial nor can we risk our server being shut down, because we are hosting all our other projects on the same server.

B. take the image down, and replace it with a provocative comment

we take the image down at exactly 9:59:59, the date of impending doom, and replace it with a provocative statement and links to “somebody” else, who is already hosting the image on their server as we speak
[and we have nothing to do with this...! we swear].
that might teach them a lesson about the medium in question, the internet, and about how difficult it is to take down content from the internet.
edit: yesterday we spoke to a swiss lawyer and he said at this point a case like this would not stand a chance in a swiss court. he recommended that we take the image down. although he then went on to say a few things that made us seriously question his objectivity that part of his assessment still seemed to hold up. he said we would face considerable charges and punishment for defamation of personality, if thats the correct juridical term (in german: persönlichkeitsverletzung).

C. take the image down, quiet as a lamb, and not rock the boat further

and what else? write an apologetic letter to ruth metzler?
uhm, thats not an option i am afraid…

so we might have to go with plan B. unless…

edit: we will have to go with plan B. as of today 31.12.2004 9:59:59 the image will no longer appear on http://www.web-laun.ch/laclassepolitique2004/july.html.
but oops, as “sombody” already pointed out in his comment here, the image has already been copied to another server, without our knowing…

yesterday afternoon 29.12.2004 14:44 we received an email [in german, but you can see it here] asking us to take down an image from our server. we were given until the 31.12.2004 10:00 to do so. the image in question is a photo montage showing someone, who looks alot like the former swiss federal councillor ruth metzler, hanging out at a nudist beach. the context: there are 7 federal councillors who make up the executive branch of the swiss government. in december 2003 ruth metzler, then federal councillor and head of the department of police and justice, was voted out of office. it was tragic, but only if looked at from a certain angle. frau metzler was/is an extremly right-wing, almost neocon, young, dynamic politician. so on that level, no harm done. however when she was forced to leave people were outraged. mostly because she was replaced with the most right-wing and xenophobic politician this country has ever seen, christoph blocher, and also because this meant that from then on only one woman was present in the federal council. this photo montage is trying to make fun of this by showing metzler actually enjoying her early (if forced) retirement. the image is part of a satirical, political calendar for the year 2004 in which we photoshopped swiss political personalities in absurd and surreal situations. this work was meant to be humerous, satirical, artistic, provocative, yes, guilty of all these things, but not hurtful. it was inspired by the english equivalent naked mp calendar 2004 done by sickboy (that i cant seem to find online at the moment). it is our conviction that people with public mandates are public figures, and as such have to be willing and able to put up with satire. i guess it would take a certain sense of humour and grandeur to appreciate such a satirical depiction. but apparently frau metzler does not seem to possess these traits. past cases have proven that it is quite ridiculous to ask people to remove content from the internet. in a case like this one, it might even get more people to see the image in question than was originally the case. this statement is in no way meant as a threat. just stating the obvious, something which frau metzler and her lawyer husband might not really have thought through properly. after the recent scandal surrounding swiss artist hirschhorn i hasten to add: this project was NOT funded by any federal grant in any way. what are we going to do about this? what are our options here? A. leave the image up and risk a big mess with possibly a trial and a pricy bill to pay ideally this is what we would like to do. however we would have to feel quite a huge community support to take this stance. an amount of support, that up untill now we have not felt. because after all, lets face it, we are one of the many blogs that have maybe 5 to 6 readers, and thats on a good day. we neither have the money for a trial nor can we risk our server being shut down, because we are hosting all our other projects on the same server. B. take the image down, and replace it with a provocative comment we take the image down at exactly 9:59:59, the date of impending doom, and replace it with a provocative statement and links to "somebody" else, who is already hosting the image on their server as we speak [and we have nothing to do with this...! we swear]. that might teach them a lesson about the medium in question, the internet, and about how difficult it is to take down content from the internet. edit: yesterday we spoke to a swiss lawyer and he said at this point a case like this would not stand a chance in a swiss court. he recommended that we take the image down. although he then went on to say a few things that made us seriously question his objectivity that part of his assessment still seemed to hold up. he said we would face considerable charges and punishment for defamation of personality, if thats the correct juridical term (in german: persönlichkeitsverletzung). C. take the image down, quiet as a lamb, and not rock the boat further and what else? write an apologetic letter to ruth metzler? uhm, thats not an option i am afraid... so we might have to go with plan B. unless... edit: we will have to go with plan B. as of today 31.12.2004 9:59:59 the image will no longer appear on http://www.web-laun.ch/laclassepolitique2004/july.html. but oops, as "sombody" already pointed out in his comment here, the image has already been copied to another server, without our knowing...