Iceland intends to become an offshore paradise for journalists and leaks
It is expected that on Tuesday the Icelandic parliament will put in place measures aimed at turning the country into an international center for investigative journalism. The strongest package of laws on the protection of sources, freedom of speech and protection from defamatory tourism will be adopted.
Proponents of this initiative state that this will make Iceland an “offshore publishing center” for freedom of speech, similar to financial offshore companies, which allow companies to hide capital from the state. Now will media companies with offices in Reykjavik become as common as companies using the Delaware Corporate Law, or with assets in the Cayman Islands?
“This is a package of documents for creating ideal conditions for freedom of expression,” Member of Parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir assured me, stating that a proposal for a comprehensive media reform would be submitted on Tuesday, and that well-known Wikileaks whistleblowers participated in the development of the draft draft. In recent weeks, there have been hints of advances in this area, including on Wikileaks tweets, as well as a mysterious message from the newly created twitter account @icelandmedia.
The text of the proposal, entitled “The Initiative of Modern Icelandic Media”, has not yet been published, but the most detailed confirmation of its existence can be seen in the video recording of Julian Assange and Daniel Schmidt's speech from Wikileaks at the hacker conference of December 27, 2009 in Berlin.
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[Watch video here .]
Schmidt formulated the idea of ​​"Switzerland for the bits." He mentions that “Iceland's lawyers are working on a law that will be submitted on January 26,” although, as we see, the date was shifted by several weeks. In addition, he suggests that European Union countries follow the example of Iceland and adopt similar legislation.
Paradise for leaks and investigators
Yonsdottir explained that the initiative does not contain ready-made laws, it only helps the government to create a package of laws that will specifically improve journalistic freedoms. According to the Assange letter, which, by the way, has become a leak, amendments to legislation will affect the protection of information sources, the protection of whistleblowers, the immunity of Internet providers and other telecommunications, freedom to receive information and strict restrictions on court decisions banning the publication of any material conducting the proceedings. In addition, they will provide protection against defamation charges from other jurisdictions, which is very similar to what the US can soon do with the Freedom of Speech Protection Act of 2009.
The package was developed by a working group that includes representatives from government, civil society and Wikileaks, which has extensive experience in international media law and censorship issues. The site accepts anonymous materials for the benefit of the general interests of society and publishes them without question. Since its launch in January 2007, Wikileaks has published thousands of important documents, including an investigation into extrajudicial killings in Kenya and more than 500,000 paging messages intercepted on September 11, 2001 in New York. When the Guardian newspaper received documents referring to dumping 400 tons of toxic waste on behalf of the international trader of raw materials Trafigura, she was besieged by a court ban, which forbade her not only to disclose the contents of the documents, but even the fact of the ban. Wikileaks published material three days later. Currently, Wikileaks have suspended activities due to the need to raise funds, but said they would soon resume it.
The site team intersected with Iceland last summer. As you know, the country suffered so much from the crisis that unrest in the streets ended with the election of a new government in April. Iceland had a debt that was five times higher than its annual GDP, and the banks managed to keep their lenders' names secret until in August the central TV received a list of them. At the last minute, the studio was blocked and not allowed to go on the air, but it lit up, and instead of the list, they showed the URL of its copy on the Wikileaks website. It was “very popular and very necessary for people to understand what is happening in banks, because we had to nationalize them,” Jonsdottir told me.
The country is set to openness
In the wake of this popularity, Assange and Schmidt arrived in Iceland in early December and launched this idea of ​​creating a paradise for journalists in the country during a talk show, and then revealed it in more detail at the presentation at the University of Reykjavik. Yonsdottir and others were impressed. “The main goal is to prevent the recurrence of crises such as our financial one,” said MP Lilya Mosesdottir, noting that Icelandic financiers had a great influence on Icelandic media. “They manipulated the news.”
Wikileaks has been able to shed light on important documents thanks to technology and legislation. The delivery of materials is organized anonymously and passes through countries with well-developed legislation protecting journalistic sources. Last year, I noticed Assange that Wikileaks was lucky that they registered their domain name in California, where in 2008 a case initiated by a Swiss bank against a domain name registrar should have failed. (In fact, this is what happened thanks to the support of a number of major American media). Assange replied that this was not an accident, and that Wikileaks was still to lose the trial.
Legal elasticity can also serve the interests of “defamatory tourism”. There is one case in which a billionaire from Saudi Arabia filed a lawsuit in London against the European edition of the Wall Street Journal in Brussels for an article published by the Wall Street Journal in New York. Some courts have decided that posting an article on the Internet is considered a publication if it is accessible from the territory under their jurisdiction. Such a decision meant that potentially a web publication could be declared defamation in any country in the world. On February 7, Assange wrote:
Jónsdóttir reported that the proposal was already supported by the Left Green Movement, the Social Democratic Alliance and the Civil Movement on whose behalf she speaks. This is 38 of the 63 parliamentary seats in Iceland. A simple majority is enough to pass a law. She hopes that the voting will take place within a month, and that if everything goes smoothly, the final bills will be drawn up and adopted within six months. But the situation is changeable, she noted that “the government is on the verge of collapse,” since a referendum on debt restructuring to the United Kingdom and the Dutch banks is coming.
Proponents of this initiative state that this will make Iceland an “offshore publishing center” for freedom of speech, similar to financial offshore companies, which allow companies to hide capital from the state. Now will media companies with offices in Reykjavik become as common as companies using the Delaware Corporate Law, or with assets in the Cayman Islands?
“This is a package of documents for creating ideal conditions for freedom of expression,” Member of Parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir assured me, stating that a proposal for a comprehensive media reform would be submitted on Tuesday, and that well-known Wikileaks whistleblowers participated in the development of the draft draft. In recent weeks, there have been hints of advances in this area, including on Wikileaks tweets, as well as a mysterious message from the newly created twitter account @icelandmedia.
The text of the proposal, entitled “The Initiative of Modern Icelandic Media”, has not yet been published, but the most detailed confirmation of its existence can be seen in the video recording of Julian Assange and Daniel Schmidt's speech from Wikileaks at the hacker conference of December 27, 2009 in Berlin.
')
[Watch video here .]
We can only say that we take the Swedish law on the protection of information sources, for example ... We could take the first amendment to the US Constitution, we could take the Belgian law on the protection of journalists, then pack it all in one package and make it a legal basis that regulates all the information needs of society.
Schmidt formulated the idea of ​​"Switzerland for the bits." He mentions that “Iceland's lawyers are working on a law that will be submitted on January 26,” although, as we see, the date was shifted by several weeks. In addition, he suggests that European Union countries follow the example of Iceland and adopt similar legislation.
Paradise for leaks and investigators
Yonsdottir explained that the initiative does not contain ready-made laws, it only helps the government to create a package of laws that will specifically improve journalistic freedoms. According to the Assange letter, which, by the way, has become a leak, amendments to legislation will affect the protection of information sources, the protection of whistleblowers, the immunity of Internet providers and other telecommunications, freedom to receive information and strict restrictions on court decisions banning the publication of any material conducting the proceedings. In addition, they will provide protection against defamation charges from other jurisdictions, which is very similar to what the US can soon do with the Freedom of Speech Protection Act of 2009.
The package was developed by a working group that includes representatives from government, civil society and Wikileaks, which has extensive experience in international media law and censorship issues. The site accepts anonymous materials for the benefit of the general interests of society and publishes them without question. Since its launch in January 2007, Wikileaks has published thousands of important documents, including an investigation into extrajudicial killings in Kenya and more than 500,000 paging messages intercepted on September 11, 2001 in New York. When the Guardian newspaper received documents referring to dumping 400 tons of toxic waste on behalf of the international trader of raw materials Trafigura, she was besieged by a court ban, which forbade her not only to disclose the contents of the documents, but even the fact of the ban. Wikileaks published material three days later. Currently, Wikileaks have suspended activities due to the need to raise funds, but said they would soon resume it.
The site team intersected with Iceland last summer. As you know, the country suffered so much from the crisis that unrest in the streets ended with the election of a new government in April. Iceland had a debt that was five times higher than its annual GDP, and the banks managed to keep their lenders' names secret until in August the central TV received a list of them. At the last minute, the studio was blocked and not allowed to go on the air, but it lit up, and instead of the list, they showed the URL of its copy on the Wikileaks website. It was “very popular and very necessary for people to understand what is happening in banks, because we had to nationalize them,” Jonsdottir told me.
The country is set to openness
In the wake of this popularity, Assange and Schmidt arrived in Iceland in early December and launched this idea of ​​creating a paradise for journalists in the country during a talk show, and then revealed it in more detail at the presentation at the University of Reykjavik. Yonsdottir and others were impressed. “The main goal is to prevent the recurrence of crises such as our financial one,” said MP Lilya Mosesdottir, noting that Icelandic financiers had a great influence on Icelandic media. “They manipulated the news.”
Wikileaks has been able to shed light on important documents thanks to technology and legislation. The delivery of materials is organized anonymously and passes through countries with well-developed legislation protecting journalistic sources. Last year, I noticed Assange that Wikileaks was lucky that they registered their domain name in California, where in 2008 a case initiated by a Swiss bank against a domain name registrar should have failed. (In fact, this is what happened thanks to the support of a number of major American media). Assange replied that this was not an accident, and that Wikileaks was still to lose the trial.
Legal elasticity can also serve the interests of “defamatory tourism”. There is one case in which a billionaire from Saudi Arabia filed a lawsuit in London against the European edition of the Wall Street Journal in Brussels for an article published by the Wall Street Journal in New York. Some courts have decided that posting an article on the Internet is considered a publication if it is accessible from the territory under their jurisdiction. Such a decision meant that potentially a web publication could be declared defamation in any country in the world. On February 7, Assange wrote:
We do not expect that everything will go our hard way. Major newspapers suffer censorship in the form of costs for lawsuits ... It's time to stop it. It's time for the country to say “enough”, it's time to see justice, it's time to save history, and we will give shelter from the storm.
Jónsdóttir reported that the proposal was already supported by the Left Green Movement, the Social Democratic Alliance and the Civil Movement on whose behalf she speaks. This is 38 of the 63 parliamentary seats in Iceland. A simple majority is enough to pass a law. She hopes that the voting will take place within a month, and that if everything goes smoothly, the final bills will be drawn up and adopted within six months. But the situation is changeable, she noted that “the government is on the verge of collapse,” since a referendum on debt restructuring to the United Kingdom and the Dutch banks is coming.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/288788/
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