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So, Berlusconi's new law to shut down Italian Wikipedia?

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UrbanRats

Member
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Comunicato_4_ottobre_2011

It's in Italian, but basically, the new bill against wiretap interceptions, is going to allow anyone offended by the content of a blog/online newspaper (and so a Wiki website, too) to ask for the removal of said content, even if such content is completely true and without any evidence of the contrary, at all.

Quindi, in base al comma 29, chiunque si sentirà offeso da un contenuto presente su un blog, su una testata giornalistica on-line e, molto probabilmente, anche qui su Wikipedia, potrà arrogarsi il diritto — indipendentemente dalla veridicità delle informazioni ritenute offensive — di chiederne non solo la rimozione, ma anche la sostituzione con una sua "rettifica", volta a contraddire e smentire detti contenuti, anche a dispetto delle fonti presenti.
Dichiarazione Universale dei Diritti dell'Uomo
Articolo 27

«Ogni individuo ha diritto di prendere parte liberamente alla vita culturale della comunità, di godere delle arti e di partecipare al progresso scientifico e ai suoi benefici.

Ogni individuo ha diritto alla protezione degli interessi morali e materiali derivanti da ogni produzione scientifica, letteraria e artistica di cui egli sia autore.»

L'obbligo di pubblicare fra i nostri contenuti le smentite previste dal comma 29, senza poter addirittura entrare nel merito delle stesse e a prescindere da qualsiasi verifica, costituisce per Wikipedia una inaccettabile limitazione della propria libertà e indipendenza: tale limitazione snatura i principi alla base dell'Enciclopedia libera e ne paralizza la modalità orizzontale di accesso e contributo, ponendo di fatto fine alla sua esistenza come l'abbiamo conosciuta fino a oggi.
^^^
So basically they would close down the Italian Wikipedia, because this bill would at the very least force them to include a "rectification", completely based on nothing, no facts nor arguments, just because someone was offended by said informations (although true).

So you can guess, all the pages about Berlusconi's legal problems would be erased or.. ehm.. rectified, and so on.

Considering that this law is completely useless to the country (which btw, is in a shitty economical position, as you can guess) and is being passed just so the judges can't use wiretaps against the PM, it's all like a fucking grotesque spiral.
 

[Nintex]

Member
I think Berlusconi said that he would end up in jail if he didn't go into politics. I read an article stating that everything he has done so far has only been to keep his ass out of jail and his companies secure.
 

Rapstah

Member
Akkad said:
More Hilarity from Italy in the news. How are these people descendants of the great Romans?
The same way every fucking other person in Europe and more or less half the world is. And besides Rome was a poorly run dictature at the end too.
 

Akkad

Banned
Rapstah said:
The same way every fucking other person in Europe and more or less half the world is. And besides Rome was a poorly run dictature at the end too.

Calm down there homeboy, it was a joke.
 
dPrb9.jpg


Does this mean the poor inter players can't wear Berlusoni masks anymore? :(
 

UrbanRats

Member
[Nintex] said:
I think Berlusconi said that he would end up in jail if he didn't go into politics. I read an article stating that everything he has done so far has only been to keep his ass out of jail and his companies secure.
I doubt he said it himself, but it's true.
I can't wrap my head around the fact that some people would still vote for him today.
 

Kurtofan

Member
Wait, how does wiretapping relate to websites content?Is it like when the Greeks banned video games when they banned electronic gambling games?
 

nickcv

Member
Kurtofan said:
Wait, how does wiretapping relate to websites content?Is it like when the Greeks banned video games when they banned electronic gambling games?

welcome to italy
 

UrbanRats

Member
Kurtofan said:
Wait, how does wiretapping relate to websites content?Is it like when the Greeks banned video games when they banned electronic gambling games?
It's called "DDL Intercettazioni", so i translated it to "Interceptions bill" which is specifically what Berlusconi is after, ofcourse (he doesn't want his shit to go on the papers, apparently they got some good stuff) but the actual bill it has a larger scope.

As far as i understand, it's very unconstitutional (that's why he costantly tries to change the constitution, btw) so it's probably not gonna pass through the end, but i'm not even sure about that; to me at this point, it's all like a big fucking grotesque joke.
 
UrbanRats said:
I can't wrap my head around the fact that some people would still vote for him today.

Sadly his opponents are not much better than him, corruption and inadequacy are everywhere so that it is quite hard spotting some decent candidates to trust, once they get elected they mind their own business and do what they're told to do by their parties and by corporations, so it's a catch-22 basically.
Not that Italians themselves have no part in this, to be fair.
 

Rapstah

Member
«Ogni individuo ha diritto di prendere parte liberamente alla vita culturale della comunità, di godere delle arti e di partecipare al progresso scientifico e ai suoi benefici.

Ogni individuo ha diritto alla protezione degli interessi morali e materiali derivanti da ogni produzione scientifica, letteraria e artistica di cui egli sia autore.»
Google Translate says:

Everyone has the right to participate freely in cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

Everyone has the right to protection of moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.


I'm assuming that the last "is" is subjunctive and therefore should probably be translated to "may be" instead? Is this outlawing any loss whatsoever resulting from anything written?
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
This is a perfect memo for studying a lot, so I'll end University faster, I'll do specialistic courses faster and then BAIL OUT FROM THIS DICTATURE.
We're... at Africa countries levels. And so many Italians still vote him, or are convinced he's the man that MUST guide us ("Passerottino"... oh God... ). Someone has to help us. I don't know who, but we need help: majority of Italians only thinks about pussies, soccer and not about what is going on the country, and when shit happens, we're even surprised.
Please, help us.
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
Not the first time that Berlusconi has shat out a law that lets him cover up his criminal dealings. The man, though amusing in small doses, is a first class cunt.
 

Simplet

Member
It makes you glad to live in a country with a long democratic tradition and a culture of relatively low corruption. In a culture like Italy, the corruption is really hard to dig out. The country has pretty much always been corrupt, it will probably take generations to uproot the problem (if ever). Giving Berlusconi the boot would be a good first step though.
 

FStop7

Banned
LOL Italian laws/politics. Making the USA look sane since 753 BC.

How's that whole "put scientists on trial for failing to predict earthquakes" things working out for you?
 

akira28

Member
What's to stop them from pulling a 'livin in Commie China' and just hosting everything out of country in a 'free' zone?
 

jaxword

Member
[Nintex] said:
I think Berlusconi said that he would end up in jail if he didn't go into politics. I read an article stating that everything he has done so far has only been to keep his ass out of jail and his companies secure.

I think we could say this about most of OUR politicians too, to be honest...
 
Akkad said:
More Hilarity from Italy in the news. How are these people descendants of the great Romans?

because the Romans were just as shitty. oppose us politically? we will literally murder you in the streets. how about that for due process/democracy! judging by your avatar i'm sure you know of the Grachii
 

Celine

Member
Gianni Merryman said:
Sadly his opponents are not much better than him, corruption and inadequacy are everywhere so that it is quite hard spotting some decent candidates to trust, once they get elected they mind their own business and do what they're told to do by their parties and by corporations, so it's a catch-22 basically.
Not that Italians themselves have no part in this, to be fair.
Sadly, this sum up well the situation.
 

Lain

Member
Gianni Merryman said:
Sadly his opponents are not much better than him, corruption and inadequacy are everywhere so that it is quite hard spotting some decent candidates to trust, once they get elected they mind their own business and do what they're told to do by their parties and by corporations, so it's a catch-22 basically.
Not that Italians themselves have no part in this, to be fair.
Not much better on the opposite sides, that's true, but the main problem is that people still believe in, and worship, Berlusconi.
Berlusconi is only a problem insofar as being a shitty country leader who only minds his personal business instead of the country business. The real problem are the Italians that still follow him in the face of all the evidence of his wrong doings, both as a public figure as well as his private stuff and that includes the politicians on his side.
 
We've got to stop with the false equivalencies people. While it's true that our political class sucks generally, Berlusconi and his people have had an active part in demolishing every last shred of credibility our government enjoyed. I didn't see the centerleft trying to erode free press and i doubt that with a Prodi/Veltroni/Bersani government, hate them as much as you want, we'd come to this economic situation, seeing how this is more than anything a credibility crisis.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
Sickboy007 said:
We've got to stop with the false equivalencies people. While it's true that our political class sucks generally, Berlusconi and his people have had an active part in demolishing every last shred of credibility our government enjoyed. I didn't see the centerleft trying to erode free press and i doubt that with a Prodi/Veltroni/Bersani government, hate them as much as you want, we'd come to this economic situation, seeing how this is more than anything a credibility crisis.
That takes all of the fun out of arguing on the internet. I don't see Hitler listed anywhere, so we haven't completely devolved yet.
 

leadbelly

Banned
I don't think it is quite as simple as that. People still have the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice, who could possibly overrule the decision.
 
leadbelly said:
I don't think it is quite as simple as that. People still have the right to appeal to the European Court of Justice, who could possibly overrule the decision.

At this point it's doubtful that it'll pass this way, even if it does, the president can soft veto it if it's blatantly unconstitutional. If it STILL passes, there is still the constitutional court, or a popular referendum.
 
English version of the statement

Dear reader,
at this time, the Italian language Wikipedia may be no longer able to continue providing the service that over the years was useful to you, and that you expected to have right now. As things stand, the page you want still exists and is only hidden, but the risk is that soon we will be forced to actually delete it.
The Bill - Rules on Wiretapping etc., p. 24, paragraph 29, letter a) states that:

«For the Internet sites, including newspapers and periodicals delivered by telematic way, the statements or corrections are published, with the same graphic characteristics, the same access methodology to the site and the same visibility of the news which they refer.»

Over the past ten years, Wikipedia has become part of the daily habits of millions of web users looking for a neutral, free-content, and - above all - independent source of Knowledge. A new, huge multi-lingual encyclopedia, freely available to all, at any time, and free of charge.
Today, unfortunately, the very pillars on which Wikipedia has been built - neutrality, freedom, and verifiability of its contents - are likely to be heavily compromised by paragraph 29 of a law proposal, also known as "DDL intercettazioni" (Wiretapping Act).
This proposal, which the Italian Parliament is currently debating, provides, among other things, a requirement to all websites to publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her image.
Unfortunately, the law does not require an evaluation of the claim by an impartial third judge - the opinion of the person allegedly injured is all that is required, in order to impose such correction to any website.
Hence, anyone who feels offended by any content published on a blog, an online newspaper and, most likely, even on Wikipedia can directly request to publish a "corrected" version, aimed to contradict and disprove the allegedly harmful contents, regardless of the truthfulness of the information deemed as offensive, and its sources.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 27.

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

During all these years, the users of Wikipedia (and we want, once more, to point out that Wikipedia does not have an editorial staff) have always been available to review - and modify, if needed - any content deemed to be detrimental to anyone, without harm to the Project's neutrality and independence. In the very rare instances it was not possible to reach a mutually satisfactory solution, the entire page has been removed.
The obligation to publish on our site the correction as is, provided by the named paragraph 29, without even the right to discuss and verify the claim, is an unacceptable restriction of the freedom and independence of Wikipedia, to the point of distorting the principles on which the Free Encyclopedia is based and this would bring to a paralysis of the "horizontal" method of access and editing, putting - in fact - an end to its existence as we have known until today.
It should be made more than clear that none of us wants to question safeguarding and protection of the reputation, honor and image of any party - but we also note that every Italian citizen is already protected in this respect by Article 595 of the Criminal Code, which punishes the crime of defamation.
With this announcement, we want to warn our readers against the risks arising from leaving to the arbitrary will of any party to enforce the alleged protection of its image and its reputation. Under such provisions, web users would be most probably led to cease dealing with certain topics or people, just to "avoid troubles".
We want to be able to keep a free and open-to-all encyclopaedia, because our articles are also your articles - Wikipedia is already neutral, why neutralize it?
The users of Wikipedia
 
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