Italian Wikipedia shut down

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/10/italian-wikipedia-shuts-down-in-protest-of-wiretap-act/246180/

by coldarchon • 15 years ago

196 35 15 years ago

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.

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

kidmenot3• 15 years ago

It's working, now.

pavel_lishin2• 15 years ago

Wikipedia, or the Italian government?

kidmenot3• 15 years ago

Hehe, wikipedia, of course.

The only way to fix the Italian government would be the equivalent of a 'make mrproper', so to speak.

ErrantX2• 15 years ago

The government appear to have caved :)

kragen2• 15 years ago

[citation needed] — the Italian Wikipedia still says, "Sono stati proposti degli emendamenti, ma le modifiche al disegno di legge non sono ancora state approvate in via definitiva."

ars• 15 years ago

Previous discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3072800

coldarchon2• 15 years ago

to my excuse, from the 30 topics on the first page 28 were about Steve Jobs, on the following pages it was similar ..

fbnt4• 15 years ago

The situation here is getting more and more anachronistic each day, they are this close to make me seriously angry. The country is run by a mass of greedy, corrupt, paranoid, elderly individuals with chronic sexual disorders who completely lost touch with reality. And the italian equivalent of 'joe the plumber' isn't that much of a good person either. I can trust no one anymore.

I don't really know how to deal with all this. Maybe we should outsource our parliament. We should really hire people from other countries to do the job. Don't worry, the pay is really good, the weather is fine, and you'll always have good food for lunch. Sit in our parliament, you make the laws that helps us grow as a decent developed country while making sure that the justice system works well, and we'll follow them.

klez• 15 years ago

+1 for the outsourcing proposal.

On a side note, it strikes me that Americans call 'administration' what we call 'governement'... It speaks a lot about how our politicians see themselves...

jbooth• 15 years ago

That's just a side-effect of presidential vs parliamentary executive bodies. Presidents have 4 year administrations, parliamentary majorities have x-year coalition governments.

pavel_lishin2• 15 years ago

I proposed to a friend that maybe Italy isn't ready to be an adult country yet - it needs a foster parent to hold its hand for a little while. He recommended Germany, but I pointed out that it didn't work out quite so well last time.

fbnt4• 15 years ago

I was thinking more about Norway, the Netherlands or some scandinavian countries.. I understand your concern with Germany, we're quite some different countries now btw :)

coldarchon2• 15 years ago

There are not many countries better than that, because most politicians become "prostitutes of publicity" sooner or later. And in the parliament then 99% of the time they throw mud at other politicians, it's not about showing the best way to go - it derives to blocking all other ways.

drzaiusapelord2• 15 years ago

> And the italian equivalent of 'joe the plumber' isn't that much of a good person either.

What? Joe the Plumber was a right-wing patsy who was nothing more than an agent for the GOP to help sell some kind of bullshit "I'm overtaxed by democracts" disingenious message in an especially corrupt election season known for Sarah Palin running as VP and GOP regulars going to debates and asking what McCain will do about Obama hiding the fact that he's a secret Muslim. Is he a hero to Italians? If anything, he would be cheering Berlusconi on.

fbnt4• 15 years ago

I wasn't talking about the actual Joe the plumber, I was simply referring to the 'average person', the 'average joe' if you wanna keep the naming reference. Italians just have no idea of who/what Joe the plumber is.

stonemetal• 15 years ago

Vote with your feet.

sliverstorm2• 15 years ago

Maybe that'd make for a good startup? We outsource your government!

Of course, if things get bad enough, Italy could always adopt a successful country's laws and practices. Just pretend to be a German provice, for example; follow all their laws and proceedings, adopt their charter, etc, etc. Then after a while once things stablize it can be customized to fit Italy.

kragen2• 15 years ago

> Maybe that'd make for a good startup? We outsource your government!

It's been tried, and it was incredibly profitable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_East_India_Company

Indeed, it was in a sense the origin of the modern limited-liability corporation, the foundation of modern capitalism. Not so good for the people whose government was outsourced, though.

davidw• 15 years ago

I'd be more than happy to run Italy for a few years.

First, I'd lower the costs of creating an Srl (limited liability company) from thousands of euro to at most 100.

Second, I'd get serious about collecting taxes from people that owe them, and try and get rid of some of the ridiculous taxes.

Third, I'd put guys with machine guns at the crosswalks with orders to turn cars that don't stop for pedestrians into swiss cheese.

madao• 15 years ago

Get angry?

its really easy to sit about and get angry, perhaps post some stuff on the internet, real change only happens with action.

deleo3• 15 years ago

Agree, but maybe we should just outsource it to normal people: the kind of people that haven't got their tentacles around everything that happened in the last 50 years! Like these http://www.beppegrillo.it/movimento/ although the outsourcing idea isn't half bad as long as they're not all former bankers! :)

juliano_q• 15 years ago

I live in Brazil and was hired to work for a company in 2009 and they sent me for a project lasting 2 months in Rome. I was impressed about how the people in general and specially the women hated Berlusconi. And he is still there today.

deleo3• 15 years ago

Only the President can send him home...

VladRussian• 15 years ago

Putin in Russia publicly stated that Berlusconi critics are just really envious of Berlusconi (yea, one more thing i too well understand, yet not proud, about my old country)

blackiron• 15 years ago

There are more represive laws in countries like venezuela and cuba.. and Wikipedia has not done anything like this there. Oh i forgot, everything a leftist government does is OK.

ricree• 15 years ago

My understanding from the last thread on this was that the decision mostly came from the people running the Italian site.

philwelch• 15 years ago

There's only one Spanish Wikipedia, there isn't a Venezuelan Spanish Wikipedia or a Cuban Spanish Wikipedia.

Italian Wikipedia shut down

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