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<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I was unable to find the
following article online, but it was important enough to me that I took the
time to type in a copy to post here, in case you haven’t seen it. The
article: “<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>
moves to place controls on Internet content” appeared in the print
edition of the International Herald Tribune on Monday, March 9, 2009, on page
13. The whole article is interesting on several political levels, but in
particular, the article states that Berlusconi has said that he will bring up
ways to regulate the Internet at the Group of 8 industrialized countries
meeting in July. Is there a real possibility the Group of 8 will take this
seriously? Is there any precedent?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Italy</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><span
lang=EN-US> moves to place controls on Internet content<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>International Herald Tribune, Monday March
9<sup>th</sup> Page 13<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Milan</span></font></st1:place></st1:City><span
lang=EN-US>. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region> has put himself front and
center in a debate over whether to place controls on the Internet that go well
beyond those that exist in most of the rest of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Berlusconi’s governing coalition has
backed a law in the Italian Parliament that would require Internet service
providers to black access to Web sites with potentially objectionable content.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>The law, approved last month by the Italian
Senate, would give the ISPs 24 hours to block access to the content or face a
fine of as much as Euros 250,000, or $315,500.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>The measure, which must still be approved
by the lower house of Parliament, is one of several steps taken to restrict
Internet freedom in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
It is being considered as five Google employees face trial in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Milan</st1:place></st1:City> on charges that they violated privacy
laws with a video posted on the company’s Italian-language video site.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Last month, the Interior ministry said it
was studying ways to listen to conversations on Skype, and the government has
also tried harder than most to close peer-to-peer Web sites that are used to
exchange movies and music.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Critics are already lining up against the
coalition’s proposal.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>“Australia has taken a step to filter
the Internet, France a different step, Ireland another and even the United
States another, but what is worrying is that Italy is adding them all together,
and that leads to a very restrictive environment,” said Stefano
Quintarelli, an Italian Internet pioneer who co-founded the service provider
I.NET and who blogs on technology issues in English and Italian.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>“This situation exists in <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region> because
it is an old country,” Quintarelli added. “Parliament is filled
with old people who are making the decisions. Young Italians use the Internet
and technology more than the European average, but the older generations are
way behind and they are afraid of technology.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>The law was proposed in response to
discussion groups on Facebook that praised two high-level Mafia
members—Salvatore Riina, the so-called boss of bosses, know as
Totò, and Bernardo Provenzano – who have been convicted of
multiple murders and are serving life sentences.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Berlusconi, who said during the election
campaign last year that he did not use e-mail or the Internet, has said he
wants to use his role as host of a meeting in July of the Group of 8
industrialized countries to discuss ways to regulate the Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>The Google trial, which began last month
and was scheduled to reconvene March 17, centers on a video that shows several
youths tormenting a classmate with Down syndrome. The video was online for
about two months before somebody alerted Google, which took it down within a
few hours.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>At issue is whether Google should be
considered an Internet service provider, and thus not liable under current law
for content, or whether it is a content provider with responsibility for what
is published on its Web site.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>A service provider is liable only if it
does not remove illegal content from its network and servers once notified of
its existence.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>“It’s akin to prosecuting mail
service employees for hate speech letters sent in the post,” Google said
in a statement last month when the trial began. “What’s more,
seeking to hold neutral platforms liable for content posted on them is a direct
attack on a free, open Internet.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>With <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s slow legal system,
the Google trial could drag on for more than a year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>Deciding what can and cannot be transmitted
in cyberspace and determining who is responsible has been a thorny issue for
governments around the world. Most have undertaken piecemeal regulation that
uses existing laws to punish crimes committed over the Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>“The best option is to let people say
and do whatever they want on the Internet and then punish those who overstep
and break the law, just like what happens offline,” said Giorgio
Simonelli, a professor at the <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Catholic</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Milan</st1:place></st1:City> who follows the media.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>“The problem with that policy is that
you run the risk of judges being snowed in with so many cases that you need a
judicial system dedicated to dealing with just Internet issues,”
Simonelli said. “But if you try to block content preventively, you limit
freedom of expression, and it is an important attribute that any free society
must have.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>, any court case or
legislation that deals with regulating the media or the Internet takes on an
added dimension because Berlusconi has indirect control over more than 90
percent of the country’s television market. His family holding company,
Fininvest, owns 36 percent of Mediaset, which owns the three most-watched
private television channels in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>The prime minister’s political
position also gives him a say over the three RAI public television channels
because his political allies name a majority on the company’s board.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal dir=LTR><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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