Island ønsker visst å bli et eldorado for yttringsfrihet og varsling. Det blir spennende å se om de lykkes

Reykjavik, Iceland; 4:00 UTC, June 16th 2010.

The WikiLeaks advised proposal to build an international

"new media haven" in Iceland, with the world’s strongest

press and whistleblower protection laws, and a "Nobel" prize for

for Freedom of Expression, has unaminously passed the

Icelandic Parliament.

50 votes were cast in favor, zero against, one abstained. Twelve

members of parliament were not present. Vote results are available

at http://www.althingi.is/dba-bin/atkvgr.pl?nnafnak=43014

One of the inspirations for the proposal was the dramatic August 2009 gagging of

of Iceland’s national broadcaster, RUV by Iceland’s then largest bank, Kaupthing:

http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Financial_collapse:_Confidential_exposure_analysis_of_205_companies_each_owing_above_EUR45M_to_Icelandic_bank_Kaupthing,_26_Sep_2008

Two changes were made to the proposal from its original form as per

the opinion of the parliament’s general affairs committee

[http://www.althingi.is/altext/138/s/1329.html]. The first of these

altered slightly the wording of the first paragraph so as to widen

the arena for research. The second of these added two new items to

the list of tasks for the government:

  – That the government should perform a detailed analysis,

    especially with respect to operational security,

    for the prospect of operating data centers in Iceland.

  – That the government should organize an international conference

    in Iceland regarding the changes to the legal environment being caused

    by expansion of cloud computing, data havens, and the judicial state

    of the Internet.

Video footage from the proposal’s vote will be available at:

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033127&horfa=1

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033306&horfa=1

For details of the proposal and press contacts, please see

http://www.immi.is