[Foundation-l] Blackout at Italian Wikipedia

[Ray Saintonge]

On 10/05/11 2:06 AM, Béria Lima wrote:
> Not really Ray. And even so, the problem is not the fear of getting
> arrested, is more the cost of a law suit. In Italy (as in some other Latin
> countries) law suits are expensive (really, REALLY expensives) and take
> forever to end.

Lawsuits can be expensive anywhere, and they can be started by anyone 
who believes that he has been injured. It does not matter if that belief 
is legitimate. It does not matter if you have gone through extraordinary 
efforts to remain within the law. SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuit against 
public participation), and some of these suits are no better than 
criminal extortion. Conceding to them means the bullies have won.

Yes, by all appearances, the proposed Italian law is evil and fascist, 
but there are more strategies available than the suicide strategy chosen 
by the Italian Wikipedia. They are not the only group in Italy opposing 
this, so there is plenty of room for common cause.  If the law passes, 
there will certainly be others willing to take this matter through the 
courts.

Ray

> On 5 October 2011 09:46, Ray Saintonge<saintonge at telus.net>  wrote:
>> On 10/04/11 6:03 AM, Ilario Valdelli wrote:
>>> The question is that the server are in USA, but for the penal law it's
>>> sufficient to edit from the Italian country.
>>>
>>> I am in a special situation because I live in Switzerland and I
>>> publish in USA servers, but for the main numbers of Italian editors
>>> the question is not so easy.
>> If they are so fearful they can use pseudonyms.  They would then need to
>> get a legal order from a US court to identify the users.
>>
>> Ray
>>