[Infowarrior] - Proposed Web video restrictions cause outrage in Italy

[Richard Forno]

Proposed Web video restrictions cause outrage in Italy
Philip Willan, IDG News Service01.15.2010

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2010/01/15/proposed-web-video-restrictions-cause-outrage-italy

New rules to be introduced by government decree will require people  
who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorization from the  
Communications Ministry similar to that required by television  
broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the  
Web, opposition lawmakers have warned.

The decree is ostensibly an enactment of a European Union (EU)  
directive on product placement and is due to go into effect at the end  
of January after being subjected to a nonbinding appraisal by  
parliament.

On Thursday opposition lawmakers held a press conference in parliament  
to denounce the new rules -- which require government authorization  
for the uploading of videos, give individuals who claim to have been  
defamed a right of reply and prevent the replay of copyright material  
-- as a threat to freedom of expression.

"The decree subjects the transmission of images on the Web to rules  
typical of television and requires prior ministerial authorization,  
with an incredible limitation on the way the Internet currently  
functions," opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Paolo Gentiloni told  
the press conference.

Article 4 of the decree specifies that the dissemination over the  
Internet "of moving pictures, whether or not accompanied by sound,"  
requires ministerial authorization. Critics say it will therefore  
apply to the Web sites of newspapers, to IPTV and to mobile TV,  
obliging them to take on the same status as television broadcasters.

"Italy joins the club of the censors, together with China, Iran and  
North Korea," said Gentiloni's party colleague Vincenzo Vita.

The decree was also condemned by Articolo 21, an organization  
dedicated to the defense of freedom of speech as enshrined in article  
21 of the Italian constitution. The group said the measures resembled  
an earlier government attempt to crack down on bloggers by imposing on  
them the same obligations and responsibilities as newspapers.

The group launched an appeal Friday entitled "Hands Off the Net,"  
saying the restrictive measures would mark "the end of freedom of  
expression on the Web." The restrictions would prevent the recounting  
of the life of the Italians in moving pictures on the Internet, it said.

The decree was also criticized by Nicola D'Angelo, a commissioner in  
the Communications Authority, which would be likely to play a role in  
policing copyright violations under the new rules. The decree ran  
contrary to the spirit of the EU directive by extending the rules of  
television to online video material, D'Angelo said in a radio interview.

He also expressed concern at the requirement for government  
authorization for the uploading of videos to Internet. "Italy will be  
the only Western country in which it is necessary to have prior  
government permission to operate this kind of service," he said. "This  
aspect reveals a democratic risk, regardless of who happens to be in  
power."

Other critics described the decree as an expression of the conflict of  
interests of Silvio Berlusconi, who exercises political control over  
the state broadcaster RAI in his role as prime minister and is also  
the owner of Italy's largest private broadcaster, Mediaset.

They said the new copyright regulations would prevent Internet users  
from sharing snippets of popular TV shows or goals from the Italian  
soccer league, currently viewed online by millions of people.

Mediaset has successfully sued YouTube to obtain the removal of its  
copyright material, in particular video from the reality show "Big  
Brother," from the online video-sharing platform. A judge in a Rome  
civil court ordered the removal of the material last month, and the  
new decree is seen as providing further protection for Mediaset's  
online commercial interests.

Alessandro Gilioli, who writes a blog on the Web site of the weekly  
magazine L'Espresso, said the decree was intended to squelch future  
competition for Mediaset, which was planning to move into IPTV and  
therefore had an interest in reducing the number of independent videos  
circulating on the Web.

"It's the Berlusconi method: Kill your potential enemies while they  
are small. That's why anyone doing Web TV -- even from their attic at  
home -- must get ministerial approval and fulfill a host of other  
bureaucratic obligations," Gilioli wrote. He said the government was  
also keen to restrict the uncontrollable circulation of information  
over the Internet to preserve its monopoly over television news.

Paolo Romani, the deputy minister responsible for drafting the decree,  
insisted the text simply adopted the recommendations of the EU  
directive but said the government was prepared to discuss  
modifications. The decree did not intend to restrict freedom of  
information "or the possibility of expressing one's ideas and opinions  
through blogs and social networks," Romani told the ANSA news agency.