Italy's first steps in censoring the Internet

mijio writes: "It's not the first time that Italy discusses Internet censorship. The last year, after some guys appeared in a video punching and blaming a kid with Down syndrome, Minister of Education Fioroni brought in trial two Google Italy's managers and then proposed and strongly sustained his idea of censoring the Internet to protect youngs. Now Ricardo Levi, Prime Minister's right hand, is finally successful in promulgating his law on Internet Censorship. With the goal of "promoting and enriching the pluralism of information", the law rules that everyone involved in "editorial activity" must be subscribed to the "Registry of Operators of Communication" to be prosecutable in case of defamation, where "editorial product" is defined as "any product with purpose of information, education, divulgation, entertainment, aimed at publication, no matter the form it is realized in and the mean it is distributed with". When inquired about the effects of this rule for, e.g., bloggers, Levi responded "We have no interest in touching amatorial or personal sites, it would be not feasible". The Times speaks about this paradox as well."