It's not much, but I emailed the (Honorary Vice) Consul for Italy in my city. You can find yours at: http://www.nerone.cc/io/consulates.htm
Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
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Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
This came to the attention on the foundation wide discussion list earlier today (I think this is the first time the foundation were aware of it too...) & I've been digging into it. The law they are protesting basically says as follows: - Any party can post a notice to the owner/publisher of a website or blog etc. telling them to correct information (and provide the new information they require) and this must be done…
Who even has the ability to delist it.wp? Does the Italian Arbcom have the power to remove the wiki? I would have thought that only the Foundation itself could have made this call. It appears they've redirected every page (even those that don't exist) to the notice. This would seem to require a hell of a lot greater access than any mere editor would be afforded.
The language Wikipedia's a fairly autonomous (which is good, FWIW, except when it goes wrong) with the Foundation trusting them to follow the core community ideals
As to how they did this; MediaWiki has a Commons.js that is editable by admins. They stuck some JS in to redirect every page to their statement. The content is all there; just "hidden". Turning off JS will allow browsing the site (I think).
EDIT: you'll also need to find a way to remove this piece of css: .portlet, #column-one, #firstHeading, #bodyContent, #footer, #catlinks, #siteNotice, #siteSub, #contentSub { display: none; }
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#13Maybe I'm being dense, but I couldn't gather from the notice the scope of the Italian law: Servers hosted in Italy? Publishers of said content irrespective of where it is hosted? Authors of said content? Would the website be blacklisted if it (loosely speaking the people behind it) do not cooperate with the law? Does Italy even have an internet blacklist?
This came to the attention on the foundation wide discussion list earlier today (I think this is the first time the foundation were aware of it too...) & I've been digging into it. The law they are protesting basically says as follows: - Any party can post a notice to the owner/publisher of a website or blog etc. telling them to correct information (and provide the new information they require) and this must be done…
The same law exists in France, as far as I can tell; I happen to have encountered that due to signing up for a hosting provider (gandi.net) originally based in France, which noted that particular law in their terms.
I can see how such laws could seem like a good idea to someone completely unfamiliar with how the Internet operates ("Someone is wrong on the Internet!"). As it stands, it sounds like a good reason to never host anything in Italy or France that talks about other people in any way.
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#14Now wait a minute, is this a law or a proposed law? If the former, they're complying. If the latter, they're having a hissy fit.
Well it seems like their trying to prevent a proposed law from becoming an actual law. Whether the threat is significant enough to warrant this action, I can't judge but it is a pretty effective form of protest, you have to admit, given that wikipedia is largely taken for granted these days.
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#15Now wait a minute, is this a law or a proposed law? If the former, they're complying. If the latter, they're having a hissy fit.
Some of their discussion on the mailing lists positions it as a strike in opposition to the proposed law.
It does seem to be generating some coverage in the Italian press, so might be partially successful if that was the objective (we'll see if that discussion does anything to derail the law).
edit: To clarify, "their" is the Italian Wikipedia-editing community, which seems to have voted something like 40-3 among active admins who participated to blackout the encyclopedia. The U.S.-based Wikimedia Foundation wasn't involved. Presumably the Wikimedia Foundation could force it to be turned back on (they own the servers, etc.), but so far are not intervening.
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#16I don't understand how this is supposed to make sense... Isn't it just as possible for an Italian to be offended by something written on the English wikipedia as it is on the Italian one? Why don't they just shut down wikipedia as a whole then? Also, unless their servers are physically hosted in Italy or they have a number of employees based in Italy, I see no reason why they should abide by this law. Doesn't China l…
Why don't they just shut down wikipedia as a whole then? This is an action purely by the Italian community. The foundation were not even aware of it till a few hours ago :) I see no reason why they should abide by this law It's a protest against an upcoming law that ma lead to Italian editors being fined for not editing Wikipedia to the demands of companies/people.
tomp asked what I think is a crucial question, that you didn't address: what does the language-specific wiki have to do with it? Wouldn't the English-language wiki be subject to the very same law? If so, how does downing the Italian version protect wikipedia?
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#17Now wait a minute, is this a law or a proposed law? If the former, they're complying. If the latter, they're having a hissy fit.
I don't think this is a hissy fit. Instead it is a passive aggressive move to show what full compliance would mean.
"You want something stupid? Okay - here's all the stupid you can handle."
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why don't they just shut down wikipedia as a whole then? This is an action purely by the Italian community. The foundation were not even aware of it till a few hours ago :) I see no reason why they should abide by this law It's a protest against an upcoming law that ma lead to Italian editors being fined for not editing Wikipedia to the demands of companies/people.
tomp asked what I think is a crucial question, that you didn't address: what does the language -specific wiki have to do with it? Wouldn't the English-language wiki be subject to the very same law? If so, how does downing the Italian version protect wikipedia?
Communication has been oblique from the Italian community, so I can only give my "best guess" answer here.
Practically speaking there is no way this can affect Wikipedia itself, because the servers are in the US. The Italians appear to be claiming that, however, this law would affect the editors directly - leading them to be fined if they write material that someone objects to (and don't fix it within 48 hours).
I'm not really convinced myself (reading the law) that this is a risk for them. But it is the reason behind their move.
(or if I was being critical; they are making a political gesture to try and stop the law, which is terrible...)
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why don't they just shut down wikipedia as a whole then? This is an action purely by the Italian community. The foundation were not even aware of it till a few hours ago :) I see no reason why they should abide by this law It's a protest against an upcoming law that ma lead to Italian editors being fined for not editing Wikipedia to the demands of companies/people.
tomp asked what I think is a crucial question, that you didn't address: what does the language -specific wiki have to do with it? Wouldn't the English-language wiki be subject to the very same law? If so, how does downing the Italian version protect wikipedia?
Italian law is very unlikely to extend outside the borders of Italy. I see this as analogous to why Google can serve up content about Tiananmen Square outside of China without any repercussions
Re: Wikipedia shuts down Italian site because of Berlusconi's "Wiretapping Act"
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Who even has the ability to delist it.wp? Does the Italian Arbcom have the power to remove the wiki? I would have thought that only the Foundation itself could have made this call. It appears they've redirected every page (even those that don't exist) to the notice. This would seem to require a hell of a lot greater access than any mere editor would be afforded.
The language Wikipedia's a fairly autonomous (which is good, FWIW, except when it goes wrong) with the Foundation trusting them to follow the core community ideals As to how they did this; MediaWiki has a Commons.js that is editable by admins. They stuck some JS in to redirect every page to their statement. The content is all there; just "hidden". Turning off JS will allow browsing the site (I think). EDIT: you'll al…
Jimmy Wales just described it (in a Facebook post) as "Wikipedia Italy is on strike against an idiotic proposed law". While Jimmy Wales is no longer synonymous with Wikipedia governance, his implicit endorsement of the strike is definitely Something.
Though people are fighting on the mailing list and calling for all the Italian sysops be desysopped.