Italian version
.hacktivism
24.02.03 Telestreet and F-Hack Days, media-activists in action.
Saturday, February 22th, is a critical day for the Telestreet project, started in Bologna by Orfeo TV, which created a virtuous chain reaction during the past months. After the first transmission and the national meeting Eterea, organized on December 14th 2002, this is the first public act of a network involving a whopping 25 micro-TV stations in Italy, totally different, both technically and conceptually, from the commercial TV system. An act for openly declaring a model alternative to the centralized and obtuse broadcasting of 'official' TVs and democratizing at the grass-roots level the most widespread and powerful information process. Synthesizing the paradox of the potential unlawfulness of these actions, Stefano Bonaga declared: "We are illegal, but constitutional", citing the 21st article of the italian constitution which guarantees the freedom of expression. On the same side is the draft bill by Giovanna Grignaffini, a leftist-democrat Member of Parliament, aimed at establishing the freedom of use of the local empty TV frequencies. On the Telestreet website there are instructions for building one's own TV station with 1.000 euros and other technical and legal advices. Friday, 21st and Saturday 22nd, at the centro sociale Laurentino Occupato in Rome, there will also be the 'The F-Hack Days' meeting, organized to share files, experiences and knowledge for building the local hacklab and support the inventati/autistici.org project. Workshops on DVD mastering, on the PC basics, stands for bartering hardware and media, Unreal Tournament and no-copyright zones.