The people who ran the so-called bulletproof Cyberbunker in Germany have been sentenced to hefty jail times. But what does the verdict mean for other hosting companies and telecommunications providers in the country? Will they be liable for criminal activity of their clients from now on?

Welcome to the penultimate episode of The Private Citizen for this year. As promised, I’ll look at the verdict in the Cyberbunker case today.

Note: I will be delivering another episode for this year as planned, which will be the customary end-of-year roundup. That episode and this one were delayed by my third vaccination shot knocking me out cold for another five days. I once again had all of the symptoms. All in all, I’ve now lost 12 days of productivity to this vaccine this year.


This podcast was recorded with a live audience on my Twitch channel. Details on the time of future recordings can usually be found on my personal website. Recordings of these streams get saved to a YouTube playlist for easy watching on demand after the fact.


Jailtime for the Bunker Crew

As promised in episode 43 last year, here’s the update on the Cyberbunker lawsuit. There has now been a verdict in the case. Everyone has to go to jail.

Well, if that sounds simple, it isn’t. Because with this verdict, the legal proceedings only have started. The verdict has already been appealed and this case will probably keep German courts busy for years. I’ll give an overview of what to expect.

Producer Feedback

It seems that episode 100 was very well received. I’ve heard many positive things about it.

Halie writes in response:

Love the show. I just wanted to say I could really relate when you said you were getting in fights in primary school and your mom scared you so much you were afraid to stand up for yourself later in school.

My primary school said if I got in one more fight I would be expelled. My mom told me if that happened they would send me to a boarding school and I would only see my family and friends on holidays. After that I was too scared to stand up for myself for fear of the repercussions. I wound up getting bullied a lot in secondary school because of this. Felt good knowing someone else knows what this is like.

Evgeny Kuznetsov (aka. nekr0z) chimed in on the forum:

I wholeheartedly agree with the “go travel” advice. I didn’t have a chance to live abroad for a year in my high school days, I only got a month (in Sweden, really close georgaphically, but far enough culturally those days), and I envy you, but I dread the idea that I could not have gone abroad at all, like many of my peers; lack of the perspective and experience I received there would make me a much lesser person, that’s for sure.

Oh, and don’t expect many invocations of Stalinism in the same vein as you invoke the Third Reich from us Russians. In Russia, it is actually illegal (and punishable by jail time) to equate the Soviet Russia and the Nazi Germany. And if something you say can be taken as an insult to Our Grandfathers Who Fought The Great War (and saying things like “they fought for a questionable cause” or “they did horrible things in that war” is certainly viewed as the said insult in courts), it’s up to five years behind bars. Go figure.

Barry Williams (aka. Bazzawill) said:

Firstly, I was thinking regarding travel and living abroad in your formative years how do you think the country you travel to affects the outcome. I would expect there to be more similar outcomes than different but for example your unlikely to pick up Australians colourful language if you spend a year in Mormonville(Salt Lake City) US. Just wondering if you are still in touch with any of your fellow students who may have travelled to a different country.

Secondly, Sudo Modprobe, man that takes me back. It actually made me emotional just listening to it. Thanks for the memories.

If you have any thoughts on the things discussed in this or previous episodes, please join our forum and compare notes with other producers. You can also contact me in several other, more private ways.

Toss a Coin to Your Podcaster

I am a freelance journalist and writer, volunteering my free time because I love digging into stories and because I love podcasting. If you want to help keep The Private Citizen on the air, consider becoming one of my Patreon supporters.

You can also support the show by sending money to via PayPal, if you prefer.

This is entirely optional. This show operates under the value-for-value model, meaning I want you to give back only what you feel this show is worth to you. If that comes down to nothing, that’s OK with me. But if you help out, it’s more likely that I’ll be able to keep doing this indefinitely.

Thanks and Credits

I like to credit everyone who’s helped with any aspect of this production and thus became a part of the show. This is why I am thankful to the following people, who have supported this episode through Patreon and PayPal and thus keep this show on the air:

Georges, Steve Hoos, Butterbeans, Jonathan M. Hethey, Michael Mullan-Jensen, Dave, Michael Small, 1i11g, Jaroslav Lichtblau, Rhodane the Insane, Jackie Plage, Philip Klostermann, ikn, Vlad, Bennett Piater, tobias, Kai Siers, Sandman616, Fadi Mansour, m0dese7en, Joe Poser, Dirk Dede, Rizele, David Potter, avis, Mika, MrAmish, Cam, Dave Umrysh, RikyM, Barry Williams, Jonathan, RJ Tracey, Captain Egghead, Rick Bragg, Robert Forster, Superuser, D, astralc, Noreply and John Chandler.


Special Christmas Shout-Out:

Zach wishes happy holidays to his dad Rhodane the Insane!


Many thanks to my Twitch subscribers: Mike_TheDane, jonathanmh_com, Galteran, Halefa, violet_hummingbird, BaconThePork, m0dese7en_is_unavailable, l_terrestris_jim, indiegameiacs, redeemerf, Sandman616 and StardewLisa.

I am also thankful to Bytemark, who are providing the hosting for this episode’s audio file.

Podcast Music

The show’s theme song is Acoustic Routes by Raúl Cabezalí. It is licensed via Jamendo Music. Other music and some sound effects are licensed via Epidemic Sound. This episode’s ending song is Deck the Halls (Jazz Version) by Ennio Máno.