Commissioner Kroes calling the talented Dr. Googleberg to the "crime scene internet"

Zum Thema Guttenberg/Kroes ist wahrscheinlich schon alles gesagt, aber eben noch nicht von allen. Auch mir war es wichtig, die Ernennung von Guttenberg zum Berater der Kommission für die "No Disconnect"-Strategie nicht unkommentiert zu lassen und ich habe dazu etwas - in englischer Sprache - auf content and carrier geschrieben, was ich ausnahmsweise hier einfach cross-poste: It could have been the ultimate practical joke although of this year. Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission, appointed Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg "to promote internet freedom globally". According to her press release, this "appointment forms a key element of a new "No Disconnect Strategy" to uphold the EU's commitment to ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms are respected both online and off-line, and that internet and other information and communication technology (ICT) can remain a driver of political freedom, democratic development and economic growth." But sadly, it is not a joke. Guttenberg, who was briefly Germany's minister for economics and technology (Feb 2009 until Oct 2009) and then minister of defense (until 1 March 2011), fell from grace when it was revealed that he had plagiarized large chunks of his doctoral thesis. Internet activists set up a wiki and within a few weeks managed to publicly document that 94.4 (!) percent of the pages in Guttenberg's thesis contained plagiarized text. Of course people made (and make) fun of Guttenberg, calling him "Googleberg" or "Doctor Copy & Paste", or promoting a "Guttenberg"-keyboard (for maximum efficiency, just Ctrl+C+V).Guttenberg, who had denied all allegations when he was first confronted ("absurd allegation"), had to resign, the university stripped him of his degree, and the state prosecutor started investigations. In May 2011, the university's investigation came to the conclusion that Guttenberg "had manifestly and gravely breached the standards of good scientific practice and had cheated with intent" (my translation, more information on the Guttenberg-case - in German - at the university's website). Not even a month ago, the state prosecutor came to the conclusion that Guttenberg had, with intent, committed criminal breaches of copyright in 23 counts, but closed the case after Guttenberg payed 20.000 Euro to a charity (press release of the state prosecutor's office, in German); this is a common way of dealing with petty crimes (misdemeanours) where there is no public interest in further prosecution (section 153a of the German Code of Criminal Procedure act). Guttenberg is not repentant: just three weeks ago he published a book called "Vorerst gescheitert" ("failed for now"), consisting of a long interview with a German journalist. He again denied any intent to plagiarize; rather he argued that the copying was the "fatal result of a chaotic and unsystematic mode of work", having copied from the internet and then mixed it up due to using at least 80 floppy disks (!) and four diferent comp…