February 18, 2009
Italy proposes harsh Internet filtering
Berkman’s Corinna di Gennaro posts about a proposed amendment in Italy that would require ISPs to block sites that permit postings that defend or instigate crimes. So, if there were a video on YouTube that defended a crime, Italian ISPs would be required to block all of YouTube.
Which content would be proscribed by this law? That is up to the Minister of the Interior, whose decisions cannot be appealed in a court of law. I can’t see any problems with that, can you?
So, you’d better think twice before you post to Facebook that you think that that photo of Michael Phelps and the bong is cool, kewl, or figo. You could get Facebook banned from all of Italy.
[Thanks to Marco Montemagno for the alert. And thanks to Twitter for telling me that Italian for “cool” is “figo.”]
