Well, Italy...

[Lenin McCarthy]

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Comunicato_4_ottobre_2011/en

Can't say I'm surprised.

[Cain]

Italy - Europe's very own banana republic.

[LMNO]

This proposal, which the Italian Parliament is currently debating, provides, among other things, a requirement to all websites to publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her image.

Unfortunately, the law does not require an evaluation of the claim by an impartial third judge - the opinion of the person allegedly injured is all that is required, in order to impose such correction to any website.

Hence, anyone who feels offended by any content published on a blog, an online newspaper and, most likely, even on Wikipedia can directly request to publish a "corrected" version, aimed to contradict and disprove the allegedly harmful contents, regardless of the truthfulness of the information deemed as offensive, and its sources.

This is real?  Holy shit.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

I hope they go ahead with it.

It would result in such a massive clusterfuck of butthurt that they'd have to strike it down immediately.

edit: If I understand properly that "applicants" are anyone who feels insulted.

[Doktor Howl]

This proposal, which the Italian Parliament is currently debating, provides, among other things, a requirement to all websites to publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her image.

Unfortunately, the law does not require an evaluation of the claim by an impartial third judge - the opinion of the person allegedly injured is all that is required, in order to impose such correction to any website.

Hence, anyone who feels offended by any content published on a blog, an online newspaper and, most likely, even on Wikipedia can directly request to publish a "corrected" version, aimed to contradict and disprove the allegedly harmful contents, regardless of the truthfulness of the information deemed as offensive, and its sources.

This is real?  Holy shit.

The great thing about The Truth™, is that it doesn't care what's printed.  The universe will do whatever it's going to do regardless, sooner or later.  Those who run around trying to deny this wind up getting chewed to pieces.  Granted, they sometimes take 50 million people with them, but no system is perfect.

[Doktor Howl]

I hope they go ahead with it.

It would result in such a massive clusterfuck of butthurt that they'd have to strike it down immediately.

edit: If I understand properly that "applicants" are anyone who feels insulted.

But I imagine that the "applicants" will only get immediate relief if they are members of the ruling clique.

Just saying.

[Cain]

I suspect, given the insanely corrupt nature of the Italian traditional media, this is nothing more than an attempt by Berlusconi et al to stop the mean bloggers and online websites talking smack about Berlusconi's fascist past, dodgy business deals and rampant ephebophilia

[Freeky]

I suspect, given the insanely corrupt nature of the Italian traditional media, this is nothing more than an attempt by Berlusconi et al to stop the mean bloggers and online websites talking smack about Berlusconi's fascist past, dodgy business deals and rampant ephebophilia

Sounds like a nasty fellow.

[Cain]

I can't think why you would consider a man who was part of a secret society founded by a fascist and looking to overthrow the democratic constitution of Italy, who owns most of the Italian media and who constantly cheats on his wife with 16 year old models (and treats the whole thing as a joke) is some sort of nasty scumbag.

[Freeky]

It's because I'm a bad person and have all the wrong values.  Also, because I'm a big meanie.

[BabylonHoruv]

I hope they go ahead with it.

It would result in such a massive clusterfuck of butthurt that they'd have to strike it down immediately.

edit: If I understand properly that "applicants" are anyone who feels insulted.

Do applicants have to be Italian?