06/23/2004: 
Criminally Absurd
Swiss OK Gypsy Holocaust Suit Vs IBM
from Reuters
GENEVA - A Swiss court has cleared the way for a group of gypsies to sue computer giant IBM for allegedly helping Nazi slaughter campaigns during World War II, the plaintiffs' lawyer said on Tuesday. Lawyer Henri-Philippe Sambuc said an appeals court had overturned an earlier lower court ruling that Geneva had no jurisdiction to hear the test case that could eventually lead to a wider $12 billion claim against IBM.
The case claims that IBM facilitated the mass slaughter of gypsies by knowingly allowing Nazi Germany to use its punch-card Hollerith tabulating machines - the mainframe computer of its era - to track and identify victims.
This feels like another lawsuit grown out of greed. Based on everything I have read, and on personal experience, the gypsies are not the most scrupulous of people.
It seems inconceivable that a company that produces a tool can be held liable for the way that their product is used. If someone is murdered with an axe, does that mean that their next of kin should be able to sue Coleman?
