Slashdot Mirror
Italian Court Rules Web Editors Not Responsible For Comments
itwbennett writes "Internet freedom got a boost Wednesday when Italy's highest court ruled that the editors of online publications can't be held legally responsible for defamatory comments posted by their readers. The judges said online publications could not be treated in the same way as traditional print media and could not be expected to exercise preventative editorial control over readers' comments."
Germany.
Google for "Störerhaftung", for example.
The poster? Just that it doesn't show your details on the page doesn't mean it makes you invulnerable to prosecution if you break the law. Even Slashdot saves the ip addresses of commenters and if you post something that breaks the law and police comes asking about it, they have to hand out the details. That is not going to ever change either.
I do not know about today, but back when /. did not save the IP addresses of people posting with UID 666. That actually came to court once, I think, when some Anonymous Coward posted text from the Scientology holy book (copyrighted material).
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Care to point out which legal limitations you are referring to?
The problem with free speech in Italy is not caused by the law, but by the media monopoly that is in the hand of a single family, and by the organized crime. Journalists have to fear for their job - and sometimes for their physical integrity - when their work covers the "wrong" person. Dissenting voices from the population are gladly ignored by mainstream media (unless it fits their agenda), and when they cannot be ignored they are pictured as silly, selfish, violent, or anti-democratic.
Michele Santoro had to leave the (publicly funded) RAI because of his critical stance to Berlusconi's political role, and he has received death threats because of his reports. This is the real threat to free speech in Italy right now.