Italy plans blog ban
28th October 2007
News article filed by BNP news team
The Internet has been a boon for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Anyone with something to say and a bit of computing knowledge can, in theory, compete with the global media giants for the attention of the world’s estimated 1.2 billion net users. In practice it is not exactly a level playing field but the plethora of blogs written by enthusiastic citizen journalists is eating into the market share of the corporate giants and opening eyes which were, prior to the net revolution, only able to look to those same corporate and State controlled giants such as the BBC for sources of news, information and entertainment.
Blogs may not have yet toppled dictatorial regimes or solved the world’s environmental problems but they have a devastating effect on governments which try and stifle democracy as the recent events in Burma have shown. As quickly as the Burmese authorities were closing down websites of dissidents, new ones were launched by freedom loving supporters in neighbouring countries and beyond.
The same attempts to stifle freedom of speech carried out by the military junta in Burma appear to be replicated 5000 miles closer to home in the form of a new law proposed by Ricardo Franco Levi, undersecretary to the President of the Council in Italy, and approved by the Council of Ministers on 12 October.
The proposed law states that anyone with a blog or a website has to register it with the ROC (Registro degli Operatori della Comunicazione), part of the Communications Authority, produce certificates, and pay a tax, even if they provide information online without any intention to make money.
The law has to be passed by Italian Parliament, but it’s causing something of a storm. The website Blognation has asked a variety of Italian bloggers for their reaction. Needless to say they are not impressed. Marco Montemagno, co-founder of Blogosfere and a well known presenter on Sky 24’s popular TV show, Reporter Diffuso, said “Technically it’s madness; theoretically, it’s an embarrassment.”
Andrea Toso, new media expert and blogger, said: “This just highlights a general problem of Italian political culture, politics surrounding the Internet and the dynamics of online editorial. An obvious example to cite is the case of Italia.it, which showed an outdated communications strategy unconnected with real life - in particular social media. Levi has made a huge mistake not because he wanted to put blogs under threat, but because he just hadn’t thought of blogs or other forms of free publishing when drafting the bill.”
If such a law is passed in Italy, this precedent may well be looked upon with interest and followed by other member states of the EU whose governments regard dissident blogs and websites as troublesome.
Source - http://www.bnp.org.uk