WMF vince in primo grado la causa intentata da MOIGE. La motivazione
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/12/MOIGE_v._Wikimedia_F…
è essenzialmente identica a quella del caso Previti.
Nemo
-------- Messaggio inoltrato --------
Oggetto: Victory in Italy: court rules in favor of the Wikimedia
Foundation
Data: Fri, 17 Jul 2015 16:23:39 +0000
Mittente: Michelle Paulson and Geoff Brigham
Victory in Italy: court rules in favor of the Wikimedia Foundation
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/07/17/italy-victory-for-wikimedia/olympus-di…>
/Daughter of Niobe statue in the Uffizi gallery. Photo
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uffizi_Gallery_-_Daughter_of_Niobe_…>
by Petar Milošević <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:PetarM>,
freely licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en>/
Today, we are happy to announce that the court of Rome has ruled in
favor of the Wikimedia Foundation. MOIGE (/Movimento Italiano Genitori/,
which translates as the Italian Parents Movement) is a self-described
Italian social promotion organization for the protection of children.
The group filed a lawsuit in Rome against the Wikimedia Foundation in
March of 2011, aiming to have statements concerning its views on
sensitive or controversial social topics removed from its Italian
Wikipedia page.
MOIGE charged defamation because they claimed to have removed the
information from their website a few years prior and no longer wished to
be associated with those views. They argued that MOIGE had the “right to
be forgotten” and that the content should be deleted because it damaged
their image, name, and reputation. MOIGE sought €200,000 plus legal
fees, removal of allegedly defamatory content, and publication of the
sought-after judgment against the Wikimedia Foundation on the MOIGE
Wikipedia article and Italian national newspapers.
The Wikimedia Foundation responded by explaining the Foundation’s role
as a hosting provider, why the challenged statements about MOIGE were
not defamatory, how MOIGE should have attempted to amend the statements,
and why the “right to be forgotten” was inapplicable in this case.
After a four-year proceeding, the court of Rome ruled in favor of the
Wikimedia Foundation.^[1] <#1> The judgment
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:MOIGE_v._Wikimedia_Foundation_jud…>
(available in Italian) confirmed the Foundation’s role as hosting
provider, its neutrality in relation to the content created by its
users, and the Foundation’s lack of liability for such content. The
court recognized that the proper method for amending Wikipedia pages is
to follow the procedure available on the website, not by asking the
hosting provider to make requested changes.
The opinion stated: “it is clear that the hosting provider is in a
neutral position with respect to the content of the information drafted
by its users … And such neutrality of the hosting provider does not
disappear just because the [Wikimedia Foundation], when informed of
potentially illicit content of some of the material uploaded … may
intervene to remove it.”
According to the court, Wikimedia Foundation, as hosting provider
“provides a service which is based on the freedom of its users to draft
the pages of the encyclopaedia: such freedom… is counterbalanced by the
possibility for every user to amend or remove any content”.
The court recognized the effectiveness of Wikipedia’s model, noting “the
page of the encyclopaedia dedicated to the MOIGE … has been modified
many times since the start of the proceedings until today, … and this
provides evidence of the described functioning of the encyclopaedia
(which follows the so-called ‘wiki’ model) and of the suitability of the
system developed by the [Wikimedia Foundation] to ‘self-correct’ pages
through the amendments made by users.”
Wikipedia belongs to you, the global community who created it and
continues to make it flourish. Wikipedia’s neutrality depends on the
ability to stay uninfluenced by attempts to circumvent community
policies and procedures through lawsuits. This ruling is a victory for
all Wikipedians and for freedom of speech on the Internet.
/Michelle Paulson
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:Mpaulson_%28WMF%29>, Legal
Director*
Geoff Brigham
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:GeoffBrigham_%28WMF%29>,
General Counsel/
/*We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the attorneys at //Hogan
Lovells/ <http://www.hoganlovells.com/>/in Italy, particularly //Marco
Berliri/ <http://www.hoganlovells.com/marco-berliri/>/, //Marta
Staccioli/ <http://www.hoganlovells.com/marta-staccioli/>/, and/
/Massimiliano Masnada/
<http://www.hoganlovells.com/massimiliano-masnada/>/, for their
exemplary legal representation and dedication to the Wikimedia movement.
Special thanks to //Christine Bannan/
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:CBannan_%28WMF%29>/, WMF
legal intern, for her assistance on this blog post./
References
1. ↑ <#cite_ref-1> This decision is binding and enforceable, but
MOIGE has the opportunity to appeal the case within six months
from the publication of the judgment.
