Italian Wikipedia blocks all access Options

[Adrignola]

The users of the Italian Wikipedia have blocked all read and write access to http://it.wikipedia.org in protest of a possible law that is being discussed in the Italian Parliament.

News: http://www.businessinsider.com/italy-wikip...tapping-2011-10

Foundation-l thread: http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/252490

The page all users are redirected to (English version):

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Com...ottobre_2011/en

[The Adversary]

The servers of wp are in the US (AFAIK), and wp is a US foundation. In short: not under Italian laws. However; from what I understand, this law most of all affect those people who live/edit in Italy. Correct me if I´m wrong, I understand it that the Italian state (with this new law) can look up your IP, then find "RealLife" you, and instruct you to do certain edits. Or be fined.

No wonder the Italian editors are up in arms.

Also, quite interesting (and depressing!) to know that with all the totalitarian regimes in the world; the first to actually manage to shut up Wikipedia was an old Italian billionare pig who doesn´t want the details of his piggish way public.

As they say: money don´t talk, they scream.

[GlassBeadGame]

The servers of wp are in the US (AFAIK), and wp is a US foundation. In short: not under Italian laws. However; from what I understand, this law most of all affect those people who live/edit in Italy. Correct me if I´m wrong, I understand it that the Italian state (with this new law) can look up your IP, then find "RealLife" you, and instruct you to do certain edits. Or be fined.

This reasoning seems internally inconsistent. If you are saying that WMF is beyond the reach of the law but not those editors living in Italy then you might be correct. It looks like the law is some sort of "take down notice" or "retraction demand" that addresses an expansive sort of defamation rather than copyright. It might work like a DMCA notice. It gives the writer a chance to clean up the statement and avoid penalties. This is not really the same as affirmatively telling people what to say. It probably is some more Berlusconi mischief but I don't doubt it could be argued better than we are likely to see here.

[HRIP7]

The servers of wp are in the US (AFAIK), and wp is a US foundation. In short: not under Italian laws. However; from what I understand, this law most of all affect those people who live/edit in Italy. Correct me if I´m wrong, I understand it that the Italian state (with this new law) can look up your IP, then find "RealLife" you, and instruct you to do certain edits. Or be fined.

This reasoning seems internally inconsistent. If you are saying that WMF is beyond the reach of the law but not those editors living in Italy then you might be correct. It looks like the law is some sort of "take down notice" or "retraction demand" that addresses an expansive sort of defamation rather than copyright. It might work like a DMCA notice. It gives the writer a chance to clean up the statement and avoid penalties. This is not really the same as affirmatively telling people what to say. It probably is some more Berlusconi mischief but I don't doubt it could be argued better than we are likely to see here.

As far as I can tell, the law only requires people to post a correction in the same format as the original piece of news that the subject took exception to.

The Italian statement originally asserted that people could demand removal of offending content. Someone noticed that the proposed law didn't actually say that.

The 48-hour time frame (don't ever leave your computer if you blog about Berlusconi) and the level of fines that could theoretically be imposed do seem nuts though.