state seized intellectual property rights?

I just had to blog this. The German government is telling the Sahara hostages that any profits derived from their hostage ordeal must be turned over to the state.

okay. germany paid a ransom of between 4.6 and 16.5 million. that's a lot of money, to be sure.

but that doesn't mean that germany can turn around and blame the victims for their capture.

sure, they issued a travel warning. travel warnings tell people to exercise caution when travelling and warn people about whatever the potential risks may be. but they do not completely ban people from vacationing in those areas.

considering that there were 14 tourists, from different countries, it was, at least at the time they began their journey, still a reasonable thing to go on safari.

who were the kidnappers? The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (a group of Islamic extremists)? who's even heard of this group???

it's not right to blame the victims of terrorist plots. we're told the terrorists could be everywhere...does that mean that we can't go anywhere? if so, then they've already won.