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Law Requires Italian Web Cafes to Record ID

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the papers-please dept.

Armadni General writes "CNN is reporting that a new Italian law requires that all businesses offering public internet access, such as web cafes, to identify and record all customers. While supporters of this law trumpet its anti-terrorism potential, still others see no such advantage and bemoan this invasion of personal privacy. 'They must be able, if necessary, to track the sites visited by their clients. [...] Contents of people's e-mail is, however, supposed to remain private and can only be made available to law enforcement through a court order. Italy also obliges telecommunications companies to keep traffic data and European ministers agreed last week to require the carriers to retain records of calls and e-mails for a maximum of two years. The European Parliament's two largest groups endorsed the data retention initiative on Wednesday despite complaints from privacy advocates and telecoms, and the full body is expected to adopt a bill next week.'"

7 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. as an italian... by LkDotCom · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's just bad to to have to submit to this law...
    But having to read it on /. is the very bottm... :(

    --
    Grammar Zealots: please spare a non-english writer (lastknight dot com)
    1. Re:as an italian... by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

      Aah, so you see now what Americans have to bear with every day: fascistic laws *and* having to read them on /. too :)

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:as an italian... by mbaciarello · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's been on the news for months. The proposed bill, announced July 27, has actually been enacted as an executive provision ("decreto ministeriale," ministerial decree) by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It's now awaiting ratification by Parliament, which is required to make it an official law. It will expire if it's not voted on, or rejected. It's been called "decreto Pisanu," from the name of the signing Minister, since late August.

      Next time, as an Italian, try reading papers or web daily Punto Informatico. The third story is about cafés being raided and closed in Florence for several criminal offences. Some of them have been shut down for 5 days because of violations of "decreto Pisanu," as further proof that this idiotic law is already being enacted.

      What is, to me, the worst part has not been mentioned in the /. blurb. The wording in the law, apparently, makes ID recording mandatory for public WiFi access, as well, independent of the nature of the service - be it paid for, free of charge/public, or a city-wide municipal network. This may very well kill the stuttering penetration of commercial and public WiFi in Italy. Who's going to pay for the guy in charge of checking the validity of, and registering ID for people who want to connect to the library's free wireless network? Or just think of the lines to get registered for the airport's network...

  2. Yay! by Spit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Three cheers for fake ID!

    --
    POKE 36879,8
  3. OK by giorgiofr · · Score: 5, Funny

    Luckily I am well-versed in the ancient art of JAPing over Tor, and I have studied the lost techniques of Knoppix burning.

    --
    Global warming is a cube.
  4. Even Orwell would be shocked by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    First off, I realy think the proposal of the EU minister would have
    merrited a /. article on its own.
    It's such a broad assault on the privacy of European citizens that I
    don't think there is anything comparable in European history, yet, for
    most people who only follow the mainstream press, it's an absolute
    non-story. There is close to no coverage at all.

    To spell it out again, information about all your telephone calls (that
    is, for example, who you called and when), all your email (that is whom
    did you write to and when) and all the websites you visited will be
    recorded and stored for at least 6 months and up to 24 months.

    As to who will be able to use this information, this is of course left
    very vague and surprise, surprise, the music industry is already
    lobbying to have access to this data.

    Really, this proposal that will probably make it through the parliament
    will change Europe in a very, very worrying way and nobody seems to be
    upset about it. It's frustrating and scary.

    P.S.:
    I just read on spiegel online (a german news site), that the Italian law
    leads to a lot of web cafes closing their door, because customers are
    not willing to take this bs.

  5. Same in France :-( by Exaton · · Score: 5, Informative

    Alas ! That the same thing was voted in France a couple weeks ago...

    Bah, our Minister of the Interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, is best buds with the Bush administration, so what can a guy do ? :-(