Facebook hits back at Italian ban

[mogster]

Source: The Register/Bloomberg

Facebook has responded to a proposed Italian law that could see the social networking site forced to censor its members' postings and groups.

The row started when Italian media noticed fan groups for convicted mafia members on Facebook. Although these are heavily outnumbered by groups of fans supporting prosecutors, the rumpus led Italian senator Gianpiero D’Alia to draft a law which would give the Interior Ministry the power to order internet service providers to remove web pages it doesn't like.

(...)

D’Alia told the newswire he only wanted individual pages removed, but this might prove impossible for ISPs to do effectively.

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi said in December that he wanted to use his presidency of the G8 to regulate the internet. Berlusconi - with a virtual monopoly on the rest of the Italian media - has been frequently criticised for silencing opponents of his regime. ®


Read more: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/12/facebook_italy_ban/

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Additional link/story:
Facebook Says Italy’s Plan to Block Web Content Goes Too Far

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc., the world’s largest social-networking site, said that it is concerned about Italy’s proposed law to force Internet providers to block access to Web sites that incite or justify criminal behavior.

“We have not seen the language of the bill, but reports about it concern us,” said Debbie Frost, a Facebook spokeswoman, in an e-mail. The legislation is “akin to shutting down the country’s entire railroad network because of some objectionable graffiti in one train station.”

The bill, passed in the Senate last week, would give the Interior Ministry the power to order Internet providers including Fastweb SpA, Telecom Italia SpA or Tiscali SpA to remove criminal content within 24 hours or face a fine as high as 250,000 euros ($320,850). Prosecutors would have to verify criminal content before the ministry can act, according to the bill.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a6BncyT8RTLw&refer=europe

[wtmusic]

1. So many great reasons to ignore Facebook

why would you need to shut it down?

[truebrit71]

2. Because you can't secure your proper fascist cred without acting like one...

...Berlusconi (sp) is a neanderthal thug..

[UnseenUndergrad]

3. I OBJECT!!!

It's an insult to neanderthals.

[acmavm]

4. You know, you can't legislate stupid. You can obscenity, you can illegal,

but it's impossible to legislate stupid and bad taste.

[Lost in CT]

5. People Legislate stupid all the time

Motorcycle Helmet and seat belt laws for one.

[aggiesal]

7. Welcome to DU! ...

BTW, those 2 stupid laws, you mention, have
statistically been proven to save lives.

[Lost in CT]

8. I don't think the laws themselves are stupid.

I think people who have to be told, under threat of fines, to buckle up however are.

[acmavm]

9. Which is always being fought in this country somewhere. And do people

follow those laws?

Read the accident reports. Legislation does not work.

[burythehatchet]

6. Silvio the fascist. Didn't they learn from the last one?

[mogster]

10. Some context to this story, from CNN, sources, facebook

Italy Considering National Ban On Facebook, YouTube In Plan To Return To Dark Ages

(alleyinsider.com) -- We never would have thought Italy would make name for itself by trying to legislate the entire Internet.

But Italy it is: On the past several months, we've seen Italian officials: Try to ban P2P site the Pirate Bay (and then give up), fret over dumb kids making pro-Mafia fan pages on Facebook, and threaten to throw senior Google (GOOG) executives in jail for content uploaded to Youtube they couldn't have possibly reviewed.

But Italian inanity just doesn't stop. Lawmakers have bills in the works that could effectively ban access to Facebook and Youtube throughout the country.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/siliconalley/big-tech/italy_considering_national_ban_on_facebook_youtube_in_plan_to_return_to_dark_ages_2009_2.html

From February 2:
Google Executives Face Jail Time for Italian Video

Four executives of Google begin trial Tuesday in Milan on criminal charges of defamation and privacy violation in regard to a video posted on Google’s Italian site.

The case involves a three-minute cellphone video, posted in 2006 to Google Video, in which four youths in Turin tease a boy with Down syndrome. After an Italian advocacy group complained that the video was objectionable, Google quickly removed it from the site. Prosecutors argue that the video should not have been published at all.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/google-executives-face-jail-time-for-italian-video/?hp

Facebook:
Berlusconi made some offensive remarks when Obama was elected, which have inspired a lot of Italians to start the Facebook group 'http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=1cc9faa86f2408e91a531fedf03a06d2&gid=38760332413">Sorry Barack for our prime minister.. Obama scusa, Berlusconi è un coglione' which actually has almost 140.000 members. Another group is the 'Scommetto di poter trovare 1.000.000 di utenti che odiano Silvio Berlusconi', which translates into 'I bet I can find 1.000.000 people who dislikes Silvio Berlusconi'. It has 95.000 members, mostly Italians I guess.

[burythehatchet]

11. From what I understand the man has a choke hold on the Italian media

this is a scary man. I still want to know if he helped the neo-cons with the Niger forgeries.

[davidinalameda]

12. how would people feel about fans of pedophiles

just curious