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Mayor of Florence Sues Wikipedia
ZioBit writes "Florence Mayor Leonardo Domenici and one of the city assessors
are suing (Google translation) Wikipedia on the basis of a (possible) defamation regarding the handling of public parkings assignation to a private company, "Florence Parking". The apparent problem is that both of their wives are members of the board of directors of "Florence Parking", and Wikipedia is reporting it."
Are you suggesting that the italian justice system has no way to hurt wikipedia's (by suing it's contributors for example) ?
If so, you are sadly mistaken. Also they can sue, and if damages are awarded, they can ask america (or no matter what country actually) to extract those damages from wikipedia. Certainly if wikipedia just ignores the trial, this will not be a hard thing.
Not paying after a court order is an offence in every single country that exists. And yes, this is supposing the amount is big enough (I believe there's a 5000 euro or so minimum until these accords can be called into action). If an italian court awards 1 million in damages, wikipedia is screwed.
Welcome to the real world. You cannot just run afoul of countries' laws and expect borders to protect you. It just cannot work that way if you want to have international trade.