Italian Wikipedia shut down (theatlantic.com)
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
36 comments
[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 91.0 ms ] threadThe only way to fix the Italian government would be the equivalent of a 'make mrproper', so to speak.
Personally, I think that some kind of 'civil disorder' will happen sometime in the not-so-far future. Not that I would like it, but I fear it's inevitable if things keep getting worse like they're doing now (and have constantly been doing for the past decades).
Modifications have been accepted to the proposal; although it still has to go through parliament.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
its really easy to sit about and get angry, perhaps post some stuff on the internet, real change only happens with action.