Restrictive Italian Law Prompts Wikipedia to Block Access to Site

Image via CrunchBaseProtesting a draft law that would require altering Website content within 48 hours without explanation based on a complaint of prejudice or bias, online encyclopedia Wikipedia has blocked access to its Italian version, the Montreal Gazette reported in an Agence France Presse wire story.

Beleaguered Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government endorsed the measure that mandates content change without verification, which Wikipedia attacked as "an unacceptable limitation" on its freedom. Intended to deter details about government-sanctioned wiretaps from appearing in the press, the draft law imposes a $14,000 fine and a one-month imprisonment on journalists who violate it, according to the Gazette article.

Wikipedia objects to the law's failure to provide for a third party who could judge whether the content at issue is damaging.