Icelandic Haven

I haven’t thought of it much so I’m sure there’s angles to be considered which might affect my opinion but at first glance I love this idea. Iceland is in the process of passing a package of laws to become a haven for investigative journalism.

On Tuesday, the Icelandic parliament is expected to introduce a measure aimed at making the country an international center for investigative journalism publishing, by passing the strongest combination of source protection, freedom of speech, and libel-tourism prevention laws in the world.

Supporters of the proposal say the move would make Iceland an “offshore publishing center” for free speech, analogous to the offshore financial havens that allow corporations to hide capital from authorities. Could global news organizations with a home office in Reykjavík soon be as common as Delaware corporations or Cayman Islands assets?

…the amendments would cover source protection, whistleblower protection, immunity for ISPs and other carriers, freedom of information requests, and strong limits on prior restraint. They would also provide protection against libel judgements from other jurisdictions, much as the United States may soon do with the Free Speech Protection Act of 2009.
Iceland aims to become an offshore haven for journalists and leakers

Also see: The video of the Berlin talk where the concept was presented, The Guardian with Iceland aims to become haven for investigative journalism and BBC with Wikileaks and Iceland MPs propose ‘journalism haven’.