In what could be a landmark ruling on privacy issues for the popular Web reference site Wikipedia, a Berlin administrative court said the site did not violate the privacy of the parent's of a German hacker known as "Tron," who died in 1999 under mysterious circumstances.

Tron was famous in the German hacker scene for decrypting Pay TV and telephone cards and for developing plans for an encrypted telephone. Six years after his death -- which was officially ruled a suicide -- a major debate broke out over the privacy rights of Boris F. and his family. Most German newspapers and Internet sites only include the initial of a person's last name when reporting court cases or murders, unless the person is a public figure. The legal gray area in this case is whether or not the fact that more than 700 Google links, numerous media reports and books give Boris F.'s full last name makes him a public figure.

Last month, the court ordered the shutdown of Wikipedia.de and any redirects that took users to Wikipedia's mother site in the United States. The court had threatened Wikipedia's German parent organization with a €250,000 fine and executives with up to six months in prison if it didn't abide by the court order. Following the brief court-ordered hiatus, Wikipedia.de began serving its eager readers again after attorneys petitioned the court on behalf of the organization to have the injunction lifted and paid a small fine to temporarily circumvent it.

The last legal word might not have been said, however, as a lawyer for Tron's parents said on Thursday they would appeal the ruling. "It's arbitrary and obviously against the law," attorney Friedrich Kurz told the Associated Press.