Scientist Bars Countries That Let In Refugees From Using His Software

A German scientist has prohibited access to a widely used research tool he owns in European countries that he says are welcoming too many refugees, the magazine Science reports. Gangolf Jobb has pulled access to his Treefinder software, which lets researchers map species’ evolutionary ties, from scientists in Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

“Immigration to my country harms me, it harms my family, it harms my people,” Mr. Jobb wrote on his website. “Whoever invites or welcomes immigrants to Europe and Germany is my enemy.”

Scientists told the magazine that there are plenty of alternatives to Mr. Jobb’s software, and that people use it mostly out of habit.

Mr. Jobb barred researchers in the United States from using the software in February, citing the “small rich elite there that misuses the country’s power to rule the world.”

In an email to Science, the informatician said that he was “no more ‘racist’ than most people in Europe” and that he did not oppose saving the refugees at the center of the crisis in Europe, which has been fueled in part by the long-running conflict in Syria.