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After Berlusconi Attack, Italy Considers Web Censorship

Posted by timothy on from the streisand-should-charge-a-consulting-fee dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Italian government has proposed introducing new restrictions on the Internet after a Facebook fan page for the man who allegedly attacked Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday drew almost 100,000 users in under 48 hours. However, the planned clampdown on Internet hate speech sparked a heated debate over censorship and freedom of expression, leading Interior Minister Roberto Maroni to execute a partial U-turn."

7 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Please Do It, Italy! by sakdoctor · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wishful thinking. I have yet to see a backlash against proposed or actual censorship, even in countries that have a strong freedom of speech culture.

    This little blip will not bring down Musso^H^H^HBerlusconi.

  2. Re:Control by migla · · Score: 4, Interesting

    On my to-watch-list, there's a recent-ish documentary about Berlusconis Italy, titled "Videocracy". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1500516/

    http://www.atmo.se/film-and-tv/videocracy/ :

    In a videocracy the key to power is the image.

    In Italy one man only has kept the domination of the image over three entire decades. As a TV-magnate and then as Presidente, Silvio Berlusconi has created a perfect system of TV-entertainment and politics. [...] ...a remarkable story, born out of the scary reality of TV-republic Italy, a country where the step from TV-showgirl to Minister for Gender Equality is only natural.

    Coming soon to a festival (or internet) near you!

    --
    Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
  3. Re:If this were a nobody that was attacked by rolfwind · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Patriot Act is intended to focus on groups of people organizing to carry out a planned action. It doesn't do anything for single crazy acting on their own.

    And yet the FBI had plenty of tips about the hijackers before the actual attack.

    What allowed Nidal Hasan to kill people was rampant political correctness.

    Perhaps it was simply the same bloated bureacracy that fail before 9/11, which got warning signs but the signals got lost in the chain of command because they're too busy spying on the emails of millions of others.

    When is an act terrorism and when is it just simple murder?

    Is the shooting at Virginia Tech terrorism? Or is it only terrorism if the perpetrator is Muslim?

    Terrorism is a tactic designed to invoke a specific psychological reaction.

    The way past US leadership uses it is a catch-all phrase to grab power:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW8Bj1upbJQ

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zW8Bj1upbJQ

  4. Whenever I see a knee-jerk reaction.... by ibsteve2u · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Whenever I see a knee-jerk reaction by a government, the first thought that pops into my head is "Oh, my. Are they nuclear?"

    --
    Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
  5. Good on you, Italy by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Good on you, Italy. At least you are being honest about why you would want to censor the net. None of the usual "terrorist pedophile" nonsense. Just a nice, simple message to the populous: "we don't want to hear from you, please go away".

    However, since I am against censorship, I might have to reconsider the answer to my Simpson quote regarding asteroid targets from earlier today.

  6. Re:It's All About CONTROL! by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Freedom is not for you is you are not someone. That's it.

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  7. Don't forget the "Italian Crackdown" in 1992. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Don't forget the "Italian Crackdown" in 1992.

    To fight against crime, police busted all italian fidonet BBS.
    122 arrest and 159 BBS confiscated.

    Ref: http://www.altx.com/interzones2/italy/crackdown.html

    Regard,
    Dan