Jul, 14th: Italian bloggers strike

It will be the first strike of bloggers ever.

On July 14, 2009, Italian bloggers will muzzle themselves in the Web as wellas in Piazza Navona in Rome, at 7PM where they will meet to protest againstan Italian government bill (the Alfano decree) introducing a number of newrules which will limit the freedom of expression in Italian internet.

The so-called "obligation to rectify" imposed to the manager of an informationsite (blogs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter etc) clearly appears tobe a pretext. In fact such imposition, in termsof bureaucratization of the net-work and of very heavy penalties for users, shall make of the new decree aninternet-killer.

The practical effects shall be to cause the independent sites and blogs tocease or materially reduce their publications. The apparent intent of introdu-cing criteria of responsibility hides the attempt to make life difficult or impos-sible for bloggers and users of shared sites (for example: You Tube...)

The fact is that bloggers are already entirely liable, from a penal standpoint,in the event of crimes such as insults, defamation etc: there is no need tointroduce unbearable penalties for "citizen-journalists" who do not intend tosubmit themselves to the bureaucracy and the burdens contemplated in theAlfano decree.The plurality of information, regardless of the media, internet, newspapers,radio and tv networks etc, is a fundamental right of men and citizens, onwhich democracy and freedom are based. The Alfano decree is an attack to thefreedom of all media, from the major newspapers to the smallest blog.For this reason we invite all Italian blogs and sites to a day of silence, in theday in which newspapers and tv networks will also remain silent. It is a mes-sage of all operators in the media world, who jointly shout to the politicalworld: "we don not want to be gagged".We therefore invite all citizens with a blog or a site to publish this logo andmantain it for the entire day of July 14 next.

Defending the press, the tv and radio networks, the journalists and the Web,we firmly defend the basic freedom of information and the future of ourdemocracy.

Alessandro Gilioli, Guido Scorza, Enzo Di Frenna

forums.debian.net

► Η πρώτη ΑΠΕΡΓΙΑ ΤΩΝ BLOGGERS στον Κόσμο! 14 Ιούλη στην Ιταλία, για την ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΔΙΑΔΙΚΤΥΟ! Είμαστε μαζί τους!
► O γερουσιαστής Fernando Rossi συμμετέχει στην απεργία των ιταλών bloggers (14 Iούλη)