The main sponsor of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative is Member of Parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir, a self described "anarchist" who wears 'Free Tibet' and 'WikiLeaks' pins on her jacket.
RTE reports:
The aspiring 'island of transparency' aims to strengthen source protection, encourage whistleblowers to leak information and help counter so-called 'libel tourism', which consists in dragging journalists before foreign courts in countries with laws that best suit the prosecution.
The idea is to imitate and combine the existing most far-reaching laws in countries renowned for their freedom of expression, like the US, Sweden and Belgium.
'I don't think that there is anything radical in (IMMI). The radicalism around it is to pull these laws together,' Jonsdottir said.
And:
...the resolution will also have implications beyond Iceland's borders.
'In countries where they are oppressed such as China and Sri Lanka, journalists risk their lives,' Ms Jonsdottir said.
'We can't help them with that, but at least we can ensure that their stories won't be removed' from the internet, by posting them on servers located in Iceland where the censors cannot get at them, she said.
According to Ms Jonsdottir, it will take about a year-and-a-half - the estimated time required to change at least 13 existing laws - before IMMI will go into effect.
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