Sharon Alfonsi
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How many cases are you working on at any time?
Nine investigators work out of this office in a converted courthouse. Lau says they get hundreds of tips a month from police, watchdog groups, and victims. You must see a lot of crazy stuff.
The worst of the internet is wrapped in red case folders, stuffed with printouts of online slurs, threats, and hate.
What does that say? So they're suggesting that the refugee children play in the electrical wires. Okay.
What's the typical reaction when the police show up at somebody's door and they say, hey, we believe you wrote this on the Internet?
In the United States, most of what anyone says, sends, or streams online, even if it's hate-filled or toxic, is protected by the First Amendment as free speech. But Germany is trying to bring some civility to the World Wide Web by policing it in a way most Americans could never imagine. German authorities have started prosecuting online trolls. It's 6.01 on a Tuesday morning.
And we were with state police as they raided this apartment in northwest Germany. Inside, six armed officers searched the suspect's home, then seized his laptop and cell phone. Prosecutors say those electronics may have been used to commit a crime. The crime, posting a racist cartoon online.