Italy Proposes Law To Force Bloggers To Take Down Content Claimed To Be 'Defamatory'
from the silencing-dissent dept
We've noticed in the past that there have been an awful lot of questionable anti-internet laws proposed in Italy over the past few years, and it appears that's not ending any time soon. The latest, as pointed out by CitMediaLaw is a proposed new law that would potentially fine bloggers as much as $18,000 if they do not remove content called defamatory within in a short period of time. Note that this is not content that a lawsuit finds to be defamatory, but merely content that someone declares to be defamatory. In other words, it's a great way to force bloggers to delete any content someone doesn't like. As the article notes, with so much of the mainstream media in the country owned by the Prime Minister himself, having alternative outlets for news and information is important -- but this bill would put serious chilling effects on those alternative outlets. In response, a bunch of bloggers have apparently gone on "strike" and refused to post content one day to protest the proposed law.
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Filed Under: bloggers, censorship, defamation, free speech, italy
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LAWL
This is what happens when stupid people with power use the internet.
(Mike can you post a link that does not force a print)
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MCS LAWL
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Hard to believe
They must have immigrated to the U.S. on the Mayflower.
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The strike ??
Journalists (quite all of them) proclamed a strike due to 14th july to protest against the law (which comprises even worse things, like forbidding phone intercepting by police and so on).
Then a handful of bloggers said they were on board to protest that day (without thinking that perhaps nobody cares if a blogger doesn't blog -- even better for some..).
As 14th July came, no journalist went on strike. All italian newspaper we're fully updated. And each of them had a news about that 'bloggers strike'.
It wasn't a bloggers strike. It was a journalist strike. A strike they planned but didn't do. Screw them.
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