Petition Against Blog Censorship in Italy
Your signature here: http://www.valigiablu.it
The decision on 21 July 2010 of Giulia Bongiorno, President of the Parliamentary Judiciary
Committee, to define as “unacceptable” the amendments to paragraph 29 of Article 1 of the
so-called Wiretapping Bill submitted by deputies Roberto Cassinelli (PDL, government
party) and Roberto Zaccaria (PD, opposition party) is the final act of one of the most
serious – no matter whether conscious or unconscious – attacks on freedom of
information on the Internet ever.
This declaration of unacceptability of the amendments, which were intended to limit the
indiscriminate extension of the “obbligo di rettifica” (or duty to rectify, originally contained
in the press law of 1948) to all website operators, threatens to make freedom of
information on the Web the first real victim of the Wiretapping Bill by eliminating the
possibility that such a delicate and complex topic will even be debated in Parliament.
Among the many negative records that Italy is going to chalk up because of the Bill, the
decision of Giulia Bongiorno is likely to add one more on the side of freedom of
information: we are about to become the first and only country in the world in which a
blogger risks more than a journalist, while at the same time being less free.
Requiring bloggers to comply to the duty to rectify within 48 hours – just like professional
journalists – or else face a fine of up to 12,500 euros will inevitably cause them to think
twice on whether to write on issues that might hurt the sensibilities of the economic and
political elite. It is an anachronistic and unreasonable scenario, as information on the
Internet has demonstrated worldwide to be the best – if not the only – form of
implementation of that ancient and immortal principle, enshrined in Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states “Everyone has the right to freedom
of opinion and expression, including the right not to be harassed for their views and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers”.
The Bill cannot be allowed to pass as it currently stands. We demand full and open
Parliamentary debate on Article 1, paragraph 29 of the Bill, including consideration of the
above amendments.
Access to the Internet is set to become a fundamental human right in hundreds of
countries around the world. We cannot force citizens to renounce that right here in our
country.
Guido Scorza, Presidente Istituto per le politiche dell'innovazione
Vittorio Zambardino, Scene Digitali
Alessandro Gilioli, Piovono Rane
Arianna Ciccone, Festival Internazionale del Giornalismo e Valigia Blu
Filippo Rossi Direttore Ffwebmagazine e Caffeina magazine
Stefano Corradino, Articolo 21
Luca Conti, Pandemia
Fabio Chiusi, Il Nichilista
Daniele Sensi, L'AntiComunitarista
Wil Nonleggerlo, Non leggere questo Blog!
Francesco Piccinini, Agoravox
Giorgio Tsiotas, Valigia Blu
Roberta Aiello, Valigia Blu
Tommaso Tani, Valigia Blu
Piero Filotico, Valigia Blu
Matteo Pascoletti, Valigia Blu
Matteo Bottecchia, Valigia Blu
Paolo Agnelli, Valigia Blu
Sigismondo Baldovino, Valigia Blu
Davide Serafin (alias Cubicamente & Gracco Babeuf), Yes, political!