Wikipedia in Italian reopens after media law protest

"Amendments to the law have been proposed but a modification of the draft has not yet been approved definitively. We therefore do not know if approval of the original draft has been scrapped, an approval that would cancel out all of Wikipedia's work," it said.

The site shut off its Italian pages on Wednesday saying that the proposed law, which has been heavily criticised by media rights campaigners, was "unacceptable".

The law in the original draft would oblige any Internet site to publish a correction without any commentary within 48 hours based on any personal complaint.

An amendment being considered would impose the rule only on news media.

The law is seen mainly as a way of preventing the publication of embarrassing leaks from phone intercepts, which have damaged Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Italian newspapers are regularly filled with revelations on new Berlusconi sex scandals, often based on recorded phone conversations from investigations.

Journalists publishing these leaks would risk a month in prison or a 10,000-euro ($13,400) fine that could rise to as high as 300,000 euros for editors.

(c) 2011 AFP