Pascal ThéryOnline-Archive aus verfassungsrechtlicher Sicht

About this book deutschenglish

This paper examines the issue of the long-term availability of media coverage of criminal offenses and offenders through online media archives from the perspective of constitutional law. The topic is viewed against a background from information technology, social research and media research.

The author takes into account the different perspectives on basic rights and takes a close look at constitutional as well as civil jurisdiction and the respective critical discussion.

Media coverage of criminal acts finds itself in an area of conflict between the general right to privacy of the perpetrator on the one hand and the freedom of information and the press exercised by the general public and publishers on the other hand.

Internet users are able to access old news reports on criminal acts from comprehensive online archives by entering only a few keywords into a search engine with virtually no effort and even from their mobile devices. The question arises, whether the interest of the person concerned as well as the general publics interest in their rehabilitation is thwarted, if these old news reports contain personal information on the perpetrators thus making them easily identifiable.

Does not any person concerned have to live with the constant worry, that recent social acquaintances such as friends, employers or landlords can uncover news coverage that will identify them as former criminal offenders simply by entering their names into a search engine?

Finally this paper investigates whether criminal offenders need to fear that other internet users might copy incriminating content from login protected online archives that are not available through web search and make this content freely available on the internet, which does not offer the grace of forgetfulness.