Back in 2007 in the time of the supposedly more democratic Prodi government, Italy’s shady politicians tried to gag Italy’s vociferous bloggers. Well, this time Berlusconi and his cronies are having a go at gagging Italy’s bloggers too.
The communication of what is really happening in Italy, thus bypassing the country’s notoriously manipulated press, has never been appreciated by those at the top, who try to rely on the evasion of transparency to cover up their, how shall I put this, er, inadequacies.
Italy’s politicians do not, or so it would seem, pay heed to the constitution of the country which elected them. Have a look at articles 2 and 21:
Extracts From the Italian Constitution
Article 2 [Human Rights]
The republic recognizes and guarantees the inviolable human rights, be it as an individual or in social groups expressing their personality, and it ensures the performance of the unalterable duty to political, economic, and social solidarity.
Article 21 [Freedom of Communication]
(1) Everyone has the right to freely express thoughts in speech, writing, and by other communication.
(2) The press may not be controlled by authorization or submitted to censorship.
(3) Seizure is permitted only by judicial order stating the reason and only for offences expressly determined by the press law or for violation of the obligation to identify the persons responsible for such offences.
(4) In cases of absolute urgency where immediate judicial intervention is impossible, periodicals may be seized by the judicial police, who must immediately and in no case later than 24 hours report the matter to the judiciary. If the measure is not validated by the judiciary within another 24 hours, it is considered revoked and has no effect.
(5) The law may, by general provision, order the disclosure of financial sources of periodical publications.
(6) Publications, performances, and other exhibits offensive to public morality are prohibited. Measures of prevention and repression against violations are provided by law.
————
Or, by trying to silence Italy’s bloggers, are Italy’s politicians saying that the Italian constitution is worth about as much as used toilet paper?
Sure looks like it to this here Blogger from Italy.
This is the culprit:
DdL C. 1269 – Proposal for a Law 1269
Article continues after the advertisement
This insidious little proposal for a law, if passed and according to what I’ve read, will mean that any blog which shows publicity, such as Adsense, for example, will be considered as being a business, and as such will need to be officially registered as a form of publication. This means that Beppe Grillo’s blog, and possibly this one, will need to be registered as official publications under Italian law, and thus be placed under official control. This means that in theory bloggers cannot say what they want without risking being taken to court. It also means that Italy’s politicos can keep an eye on things and stamp hard when they feel like it.
This proposed new law is a little odd, seeing as Italian bloggers have already been taken to court for saying a little too much about certain people.
Basically, this new proposal to gag bloggers smells of being a dressed up version of the original Levi/Prodi proposal which caused such a storm that it was dropped like a hot cake.
Indeed, this law has been passing though the motions almost silently. Too silently. Italy’s mainstream media, which is ostensibly controlled by either big business or politicians, have, perhaps unsurprisingly, remained rather quiet about this attempt to control free speech in Italy.
Italy’s Bloggers are on the Move
Italy’s blogger’s are moving and there is already a Facebook group to publicize this worrying violation of human rights:
Salva i Blog! Contro il DDL anti-Blog presente alla Camera (DdL C. 1269)
The group is Italian and in Italian, and despite it being formed only a few days ago, it now has nearly 5,000 members, including me.
Heck, the UK monarchy is heaps more democratic than Italy, which is on what now appears to be toilet paper, a republic.
Obama, please remind Italy it is a republic and a democracy.
About Alex Roe
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What exactly is the Italian government trying to do, Alex? When you say, “ban blogs” are they proposing to outlaw all blogs, or to prosecute people who make what they deem to be false or questionable statements?
If it’s the latter, isn’t there a private right to sue for defamation? Why should the government get involved in censoring blogs? And who in the government would have that power?
Hi Joe,
It’s not that the government wants to outlaw blogs, even if that is what may well happen.
Italy’s esteemed politicians want to stop bloggers from embarrassing them. The pretext is ‘making them more responsible’, or rather bringing them to heel. As you say, this is really covert censorship.
As to who has the power, well, as long as Napolitano, Italy’s president OKs this law, it will go through. While I could be wrong, I suspect that Mr N does not really know what the internet is, and will be convinced that this law is necessary.
Actually the definitions proposed in the law appear to cover lots of sites, not only blogs, but potentially any commercial site and forums.
Just about everyone will need to register with the government, and many will not bother. This action should delay the development of the internet by a good few years, and mean that only those with money and friends in high places will be able to start web sites.
There are defamation laws in Italy and they have been applied to bloggers, but the government does not think this is enough.
Italy is a funny country – and certain elements detest freedom of speech.
All the best,
Alex
Ah but Alex, don’t you think that, in addition to what you say, they are also eyeing up a further source of tax revenue?
After all, once a site becomes a ‘business’ there are lots of extra taxes that they may impose, I guess.
Of course, the obvious thing is to move the site ‘offshore’, especially if it’s not a ‘.it’ site. There are plenty of ‘free’ hosting companies one can use such as http://www.000webhost.com. Surely it would be more difficult to do anything about that (although I’m sure they would try).
You could be right Andy – there is always money behind most ‘political’ decisions. More money is to be made this way, even if Italians are not that well known for paying taxes, and administering all this will be a nightmare.
I wonder if any other bright sparks have bothered to carry out a cost benefit analysis. I doubt it.
And if more taxes are imposed, then only the rich will be able to run websites, and the Italian rich are really expert at minimizing tax liability!
Going offshore is a possibility, but free hosting can be a little unreliable, which is to be expected with a free service.
I’m not too sure where this site would stand, but I might take a few steps to make it difficult for it to be stifled by Italy’s funny authorities.
Actually, even though I moan about Italian things, there is also lots on this site which promotes many aspects of Italy, so killing off sites like this would not be clever, although I doubt anyone has thought of this.
Still, it appears as though Italy’s powers that be are desperate to bring this last bastion of free speech to heel.
Funny old country Italy.
All the best,
Alex
If you live in Italy, believe me, they do not care what is at the end of your address. I had this fight 8 years ago concerning an ongoing US business my daughter and I planned– she in the US and I in Italy. It had nothing to do with Italy and therefore all taxes would be paid in the US where the fees would be collected. I had to give it up legally to get my visa.
Yes, Judith, I fear that being a resident in Italy means that I too will be hammered when the hammering starts.
If the hammering is too hard, Blog from Italy, and others, I fear, will cease to exist.
Unless, that is, I can find a partner prepared to ‘offshore’ Blog from Italy and let me run it from a distance, so to speak. Not sure that will happen though. Shame, it’s fun to do, and I think a few people find it quite useful, and informative.
Oh well, we’ll all have to just wait and see what comes of this madness.
Kind regards,
Alex
PS Maybe I should move just across the border to Switzerland, or go to France. Can anyone help out? Would make life difficult for me though. Other half would never move to Switzerland. She might consider France though – as long as she can visit her mum and dad.
At least from France or Switzerland I could pop into Italy and continue to follow Italian events. I could even start a Blog from France or Blog from Switzerland!
Alex
Oh come on stop kidding!!
First of all this new BILL has nothing to do with the previous one (Levi-Prodi proposal) put forward last year by PRODI’s Government made up of COMMUNIST key members as well as Fidel Castro’s supporters.
In addiction to it I can tell you that Art 2 and 21 of the Italian Constitution have already been violated several times in the past not only by Italian politicians but also by many so called WEBDEMOCRACY GURUS preventing people from expressing their free opinions (see for instance the relentless CENSORSHIP POLICY against nonaligned bloggers followed by Mr GRILLO’s staff on his popular blog almost daily as part of a misleading web viral marketing policy carried out by his publisher).
If you had read the whole bill more carefully you would have easily noticed that this new proposal, unlike the previous one,concerns just those blogs or commercial websites whose main purpose is to make money only.
In fact, the new bill says verbatim that “sono in ogni caso esclusi dagli obblighi previsti dall’articolo 5 della legge 8 febbraio 1948, n. 47, i prodotti editoriali pubblicati sulla rete internet che abbiano quale scopo unico:
a) la pubblicazione o la diffusione di idee ed opinioni proprie e personali;
b) la pubblicazione o la diffusione, da parte dell’autore o gestore, di informazioni relative alla propria natura ed alla propria attività di società, associazione, circolo, fondazione o partito politico;
c) la pubblicizzazione, da parte dell’autore o gestore, della propria attività di istituzione, ente pubblico o persona che ricopra cariche in tale ambito;
d) la pubblicazione o la diffusione, da parte dell’autore o gestore, di informazioni autobiografiche, personali o che comunque riguardino la propria attività personale, professionale, politica o pubblica;
e) l’aggregazione, in forma automatica, di notizie ed informazioni contenute in altre pagine;
f) la creazione di momenti di discussione e dibattito su temi specifici;
g) l’aggregazione di utenti terzi in una comunità virtuale”.
So what the heck has this to do with HUMAN RIGHTS and ITALY’S CONSTITUTION as wrongly suggested by you in your article set out above??
Do you understand the Italian language?
The plain truth is that this new proposal it’s nothing else than an idiotic expedient invented by the Italian Government to get some money from the WEB, even though this trick could easily be bypassed simply by registering our own blog or commercial website with a foreigner web hosting service company (for instance an American one).
But do you know how many Italian people use the WEB regularly as means of communication and source of information every day??
No more than 10%: can you believe it?
REMEMBER:
The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful is the cause of half of their errors.
[Sir John Stuart Mill]
Hi Giovanni,
Welcome to Blog from Italy.
Now to your comment. As for the Commie thing – it’s still odd that both commies and righties are proposing similar laws, don’t you think?
“In addiction to it I can tell you that Art 2 and 21 of the Italian Constitution have already been violated several times in the past not only by Italian politicians but also by many so called WEBDEMOCRACY GURUS preventing people from expressing their free opinions (see for instance the relentless CENSORSHIP POLICY against nonaligned bloggers followed by Mr GRILLO’s staff on his popular blog almost daily as part of a misleading web viral marketing policy carried out by his publisher).”
Interesting, so Italy does not really bother with its constitution – which is what you appear to indicate.
As for Grillo using the same tactics as Italy’s politicos, this I think is the inevitable consequence of the one sidedness of so much here. Grillo does it out of defence, or perhaps he is just fighting fire with fire.
Sorry, but the definitions from the draft bill you have quoted are designed to shoot anyone who has Adsense or publicity on their sites off the web. This is against Article 4 of the Italian constitution actually. Many who are making a little money on the side may be put off by this, and so the government clips the right to free speech.
I think most of my students and the lawyers I teach would tell you that I know Italian quite well. But what is written and what ends up being interpreted by Italy’s slow courts is another thing and may call into question whether Italians understand their own language. However, you don’t know me, so questioning my knowledge of Italian is perfectly reasonable. I don’t think I have ever professed to being an expert on the Italian language, nor would I. Indeed if I make mistakes, I’m happy if they are pointed out.
“The plain truth is that this new proposal it’s nothing else than an idiotic expedient invented by the Italian Government to get some money from the WEB, even though this trick could easily be bypassed simply by registering our own blog or commercial website with a foreigner web hosting service company (for instance an American one).”
Yes, I agree with this. Question is why now, when, as you say, so few Italians use the web. Would it not be more prudent to wait until more sites are established and then hammer them with red tape? Then many sites would simply pay up to stay in business. What the Italian government is doing may slow down the development of the internet even further.
“The fatal tendency of mankind to leave off thinking about a thing when it is no longer doubtful is the cause of half of their errors.
[Sir John Stuart Mill]” Yes! So very true. I would add that mankind gets itself into so much trouble because it often acts without knowing the true consequences of its actions. History is littered with examples of this. Yet we do not learn. Still with progress comes risk. To err is human, after all.
Thanks for commenting, and please note that I have not censored your comment!
However, I am a little concerned that you may be worried about someone infringing your human rights, seeing as you did not leave a surname…
All the best, and have a great weekend,
Alex