

Italy looking to kill user-generated content sites - CoryOndrejka
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/italy-preparing-to-hold-youtube-others-liable-for-uploads.ars

======
mixmax
This move is obviously motivated by politics and business. Berlusconi
basically runs Italy like a corporation that he owns, and since he controls
90% of Italian media his interests don't align with sites such as youtube,
Reddit, Digg, etc. that pose a threat to his business. What he's doing is what
any (heartless..) savvy businessman would do: Cut out the competition. Of
course this is absolutely terrible for Italian democracy and free speech.

It's nothing personal - only business.

~~~
LucaDuval
It is also personal. Berlusconi has a huge, and still growing, number of legal
problems. He successfully hides them on the media he owns or controls (6 tv
channels out of 7). The few newspapers that are not aligned to his policy are
read by an handful of people. The only way truthful news about his misbehavior
reach the Italian people are social network and similar. So it makes sense to
shut them up.

------
jacquesm
It's simple, really. Italy profits from being connected to the internet more
than it costs them, so they'll do the right thing eventually.

This goes for any country that wants to control / regulate the internet that
gets a substantial portion of their telecommunications via the net.

If Djibouti or Upper-Volta would decide to legalize stuff like this they could
get away with it because the public outcry would be relatively small, if they
do it in Italy then whichever political party was the one to make that
decision will find themselves without any power at the next elections.

I would take this with a substantial grain of salt. Less than a week ago
Italy's prime minister suggested that Israel should join the EU:

[http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=...](http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=20492)

think of it as publicly funded entertainment.

------
davidw
I kind of wonder if Google might get fed up and ditch their Italian office.
Recently I also read this attack piece in the Corriere della Sera, which is
usually a reasonable paper:

[http://www.corriere.it/economia/10_gennaio_28/mucchetti_4de4...](http://www.corriere.it/economia/10_gennaio_28/mucchetti_4de4be8a-0be8-11df-
bc70-00144f02aabe.shtml)

Italian only, but basically the guy has it in for Google and the fact that
they get paid in Ireland, in Europe, and thus avoid some of the fun and
exciting Italian taxes and regulations, and thinks they should be subject to a
number of inane rules that the local companies cooked up to split up the
publishing market amongst themselves.

------
maurycy
Let's ban this, let's outlaw that.

I like it how govs have no basic clue about this Internet thing.

~~~
axod
Controlling the masses communication has been something governments have
always tried to do, they always will.

~~~
eagleal
Similar to what's going on in China.

And on Italian News TVs there was NOT a word about this decree.

------
pwhelan
Good luck with that Italian government.

~~~
electromagnetic
Yeah, especially as online-publishing is a freedom of speech issue and unless
Berlusconi rescinds Italy's membership in the European Union, he'd have to be
able to prove that essentially banning access to free-speech online isn't a
violation of freedom of speech European Court of Human Rights. Any judgement
by the court is wholly binding on the member states and legally has to be
complied with or they can ultimately be forced out of the EU, but would likely
be subject to sanctions and receive no 'rebate' from the taxes their citizens
pay to the EU.

Being forced out of the EU would mean all their citizens working in the EU,
outside of Italy, could potentially lose employment _immediately_ due to not
having work visas. Every Italian citizen living in the EU would have 6-months
to return to Italy, and by how most immigration policies work they would be
unable to apply for a work visa or even citizenship within their country of
occupation. The exact same would happen to any EU citizen living in Italy,
which could potentially be devastating for the economy in Italy.

------
padmanabhan01
This is as atrocious as banning public speaking.

------
protomyth
Does Italy acting like an idiot affect startups in the rest of the EU?

~~~
jacquesm
In the EU Italy is not exactly first on the list of 'markets' that you think
of when starting out.

First off, the UK & Germany, then France, Spain, Scandinavia, Benelux, then
Italy, and Greece. Switzerland usually gets pulled in alongside Germany and
France with the portion of the country that only speaks Italian to come along
when Italy goes in, Austria usually around the time that Germany is done.
That's simply a consequence of the amount of business done online and the size
of the populations of those countries.

Former eastblock countries usually follow last, but there is a shift happening
there, they definitely figure higher in the consciousness of start-ups today
than they did even 3 years ago.

~~~
protomyth
I was wondering if a non-Italy EU startup could be caused problems by the
Italian Gov?

~~~
sharpn
The short answer is no - unless they depend on Italian cusomers (or bank via
Italy). The longer answer depends on Italy's relative sway with the EU versus
your 'home' nation & the significance of what you're doing, but is a qualified
'no'.

