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Italy Floats Official Permission Requirement for Web Video Uploads
An anonymous reader writes with some bad news from Italy, noting that new rules proposed there would "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." Understandably, some say such controls represent a conflict of interest for 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."
I get the distinct impression will be seeing a surge in Italian YouTube videos with a "Screw you, Berlusconi" theme.
That's horrific. An extremely oppressive requirement. I expect that anyone who disagrees with Silvio will be denied permission to upload anything. This is also impractical, because you can't expect every single citizen to apply for permission just to post videos of their cat onto youtube.
Thankfully, I think that this could be circumvented easily, by transferring video files to another country in an encrypted form, then getting friends in the other country to unencrypt and upload it for you.
It's things like this that make me lament the US giving up any shred of control of the Internet and related systems to the international community.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
Some time ago, they tried something similar with blogs.
Most people don't realize it but Italy is a totalitarian regime that pretends to be parliamentary. Most communications in the country are censored and/or overtly political. Also the police (who are much more like a military than even in the states) have the power to collect fines on the spot.
Thankfully, I think that this could be circumvented easily, by transferring video files to another country in an encrypted form, then getting friends in the other country to unencrypt and upload it for you.
You've never mentioned the word "encryption" in casual conversation with non I.T. related friends and relatives?
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Amazing, bread and circuses, it still works after 2000+ years.
It may become time to end the secret ballot. Else we keep getting people like this elected because people vote for their wallets thinking everyone else will save their freedom.
Democracy is the worsed system except for all the others is a common bit of dogma, I think it has made us lazy. Keep us from trying to find something better. Because democracy sure as hell doesn't seem to be working anymore.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
What did some one do upload a video of some one getting beat up buy the cops for not paying a bribe?
from the country that invented it! But I doubt it will fly with the people. They would recognize it.. No?
p2p will be a problem, even if what is being transfered is legal. What if i.e. a linux distribution includes a package with demo video of something... that linux distribution will be forbidden to be transfered using bittorrent or required a bunch of permissions for that?
Same with videochat, i.e. skype, googletalk and others.
Wonder if the selling of webcams will have some kind of requirement, like signing something. Because with this you will not be able to turn them on without getting a permission.
Seriously. "do" is not that hard to spell right.
So whats next? Having to get permission to type a paragraph? To post in forums? To update Facebook? To post on Twitter?
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
CRTC in Canada already controls TV, magazine publications and other media - blocking media without sufficient French content amongst other rules. If this passes in Italy it will only be a matter of time before they realize “Oh, we should do the same!” and require everyone to apply for permission to post videos – “I’m sorry sir, before uploading to the web your home made porn must be subtitled in French, credit attribution must be given for French kissing and your wife is not allowed to shave her legs”...
On YouTube is a regular poster. He drives around on his farm and does crazy things in cars. Jumping over things etc. Friends come over and do the same. They post the videos to YouTube.
Local authoritys have said he needs a "Movie Studios Licence". His property have been raided. He currently is posting videos from his house mostly these days.
I should add he has a conviction of a sexual nature against a child back in the 80's, so the motivation of autorities might be on that.
http://www.youtube.com/user/Davidsfarm
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
To move to his apparent favorite country, the People's Republic of China. He'd love to see his utopia in practice, I'm sure.
This is exactly the reason the USA has a constitution. It limits the power of government, so that if Congress ever tried to do something that boneheaded here, the Supreme Court would just strike it down.
If our elected representatives no longer represent us, do we still live in a Democracy?
Whoever has to look at these videos will have real fun when a bunch of people submit loads of goatse videos
Anyone have an alabaster model of Milan cathedral handy?
How exactly would they enforce this? At best he can force Italian ISPs to comply, which could be circumvented by simply having a decent enough proxy outside Italian borders, or just sending files to users in other countries. I'd also hate to see how these licenses were handled- on a computer basis, in which ISPs authorize individual accounts? The entire idea simply seems absurd and unworkable.
On another note, IANAL, but would this in any way conflict with any European Union laws regarding freedom of speech?
!freedom
When is the last time you saw a DMCA complainant found guilty of perjury? In legal circles, this is considered a nuclear weapon, and the Judges rarely if ever find anyone guilty. Instead we get defenses such that "it was an honest mistake!" and the weasels live on to sue another day. No the DMCA is one of the *worst* things to happen to the net. The rarity in which a perjury charge sticks allows the weasels to issue takedown notices with little regard for consequences. How else would you justify a take down notice being sent to a printer?
Atlas stands on the earth and carries the celestial sphere on his shoulders.
In Switzerland, under the Eidgenössische strassenvehrkersverordnung (Federal Street Rules) the Polizei are authorized to ticket-fine for small infractions, eg No Seat Belt, a very little overspeed, parking, ... these proceed by issuing a bussen (penalty) which is normally billed to your home address. You can dispute a bussen, and if you can produce evidence it is withdrawn, if you don't pay it goes to a court where (i) you must defend, and (ii) a fine and costs now get added.
Only for aliens, or people without Swiss domicile do you have to pay cash on the barrelhead since you are not a Good Swiss and cannot be trusted to pay if you have no defense.
Speeding 140k+ (120k limit on autobahn), no Swiss Tax (40f), or drink (>0,5pm) will get either a big fine or your licence (fuerherausweis) pulled, on the spot, walk home.
He'd better be careful otherwise he could wake up with an ASCII horse's head in his email inbox.
Push the Italians too far and see what happens!
"A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
You've never mentioned the word "encryption" in casual conversation with non I.T. related friends and relatives?
"Of course you couldn't read it; it's encrypted."
"What's that?"
"Encrypted means I sent it in a secret code so that other people can't read it. The difference between regular e-mail and encrypted e-mail is like the difference between a postcard and a sealed security envelope. Encryption helps keep your personal information private. I'll help you set up a program on your computer so that you can read encrypted mail sent to you and make your own encrypted mail to send to other people. What program do you normally use to read e-mail: the clock or the bird?"
There is no cost to be billed, you just need to show that you will pay valid penalties, so before I lived here, I commuted, and once had my car clamped in the Zeurich Innenstadt, because I owed more than CHF 100 in overspeed fines. To stop that happening again I registered my ausleander Kontrolschield (licence plate) with the Kantonalpolizei Zeurich.
If you live abroad you can still write in and contest a penalty, and there is NO cost for that, if you are correct you get your money back. Swiss process is almost entirely fact based, not like the US adversarial system, the only real disadvantage the foreigner has is the courts, but not necessarily the polizei, speak Swiss German or French or Italian, they may, but are not required to listen to you in English (but they may, at the president's discretion). If you write to the polizei or the Kantonalanwalt (District Attorney) you can write in English, but the answer is likely in German or French, see Languages in Switzerland.
i'm italian. posting AC for obvious reasons.
i can tell you that's funny that they are now seeking for an authorization for internet's videos "similar to that required by television broadcasters" when one of the three tv channel of berlusconi himself doesn't have the permission to broadcast. in fact, that channel is illegally occupying frequencies already assigned to a new competitor in the italian's tv market that can't broadcast because of this. i'm not so much up to date, but the European Union (god bless them to try something against our dictator) already gave us a multi-million euros fine for that.
just for the record, the italian tv system look like this:
analog transmission: 3 public channels (controlled by the parliament, so by mr. berlusconi) with an average 50% share, 3 berlusconi channels with an average 45% share, and 2 channel owned by the local telco giant (about 5%), one of which broadcast the local mtv.
dvb-t: still not everywhere in italy. 3-4 more public channels, other 2 free-to-air and 10 pay-per-view of berlusconi, 1 of murdoch's sky, bbc world, france 24, and almost nothing else apart from a couple of local tv stations airing mainly commercials.
satellite: only murdoch himself. also, if you count that the average income is 1200-1300€/month and the cost for the subscription to the satellite tv is from 45€/month, you understand that the average joe can't afford this.
and remember: when you say that mr. berlusconi was elected so is how democracy works and bla bla bla, keep in mind this fact: when you sum up his control over the televisions and the control over the press (where he controls different newspapers and magazines directly and a lot more indirectly, mainly by _controlling the advertising_) you know how is it possible that a man bound with mafia can win an election. the majority of people in italy are brainwashed and for them is ok that a man had a mafia killer as groom (vittorio mangano) and as co-founder of his party a man strictly tied with mafia (a mafioso himself, i would say: marcello dell'utri). note: berlusconi and dell'utri said that vittorio mangano was a "HERO", long after he died and where everything about him was know. YES! they said that a mafioso killer is a HERO!
also, berlusconi did some illegal wiretapping with men at the lead of the our telco giant (the one with the others two tv channels :blink-blink:) and now he pose the state secret on that stuff so they can't prosecute him or the men that did this for him.
if you count that a lot of opposition to berlusconi comes from the video blogs of beppe grillo, marco travaglio, piero ricca and others, you understand how much in trouble we are. (well, actually they go against everybody, but berlusconi is so dominant in the italian scenario that he takes 90% of the time)
now, can you understand that Italy is FUBAR?
Now that Italy has come up with this idea I'm worried.
Someone in the group crafting the secret ACTA Treaty (http://eff.org) may see this and incorporate it into the damn treaty unless it's formalized!
(Hard for me to know since it's all secret.)
And if the US public cannot find a way to stop the treaty we will end up forced to implement this in US law.
And wouldn't that be nice?
(Of course we have Obama, the RIAA and the MPAA to thank for all this).
Benito would approve.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."