Italy Proposes Law That Will Ban People From The Internet Based On Single Accusation Of Infringement From Anyone

from the seems-a-bit-strict dept

Mon, Sep 19th 2011 12:57pm — Mike Masnick

Glyn Moody points us to a frightening analysis of a proposed copyright law in Italy that seems positively ridiculous, in that you could lose access to the internet based on a single accusation (which doesn't even have to come from the copyright holder):

1) citizens, outside of any judicial proceeding and without the right to appeal to the judicial authority, may be banned to access the Internet if ANYONE (a rightholder or an ordinary citizen) notifies a provider about alleged infringement of copyright or trademark or patent ("one strike" disconnections);

2) Internet service providers must comply to the blacklisting of citizens who are *suspected* of copyright or trademark or patent infringements ("proscription lists" to ban citizens from any access to the Net);

3) an Internet service provider must use preventive filters against services that infringe copyright, trademark or patents;

4) an Internet service provider must not promote or advertise, and must use preventive filters against, services that do not directly violate copyright, trademark or patents, but that *may* lead citizens to *think* that infringing services exist;

5) a provider or a hosting provider which does not use effective filters will be charged with civil liability.

The post notes that this law would be compliant with an early version of ACTA, and suggests that this was done on purpose. However, the report also notes that this proposed law would clearly not be compatible with current EU law. Either way, that's quite a wish list from the entertainment industry.

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Filed Under: copyright, internet access, italy, one strike

58 Comments

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rw (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 12:20pm

Ban 'em
O boy! I want a list of all those who vote to pass that law so I can turn them in!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:00pm

The post notes that this law would be complaint with an early version of ACTA

I believe you mean compliant. Feel free to delete this after fixing or if I'm just plain wrong.
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Clippy, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:03pm

"The post notes that this law would be complaint with an early version of ACTA"

I see that you have made a typo. Did you mean 'compliant'?
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PaulT (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:05pm

I hope this is fake, but if not it can't be a serious attempt at drafting a law, surely? I mean, even at a glance it's unworkable in any plane of reality. For example:

"an Internet service provider must not promote or advertise, and must use preventive filters against, services... that *may* lead citizens to *think* that infringing services exist;"

"Think that (they) exist), not think that they're not infringing, but merely that they're there? So, pretty much any news site, every tech site and every piece of information about ongoing legal battles? I wonder where this list of such services would come from, as well. Would iTunes be able to get Spotify blacklisted if they try entering the Italian market?
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blaktron (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:09pm

Since every single port can be used to infringe copyrights, does this mean that Italy is officially not part of the internet at large?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:11pm

Molusconi strikes back!
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HothMonster, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:14pm

"must use preventive filters against, services that do not directly violate copyright, trademark or patents, but that *may* lead citizens to *think* that infringing services exist;"

So all news organizations will lose their internet access, but thankfully so will any anti-file sharing groups since campaigns against file sharing lead me to think such services exist.
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jsl4980 (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:23pm

The patent portion is the most interesting to me. With the Apple vs the world patent lawsuits (sorry to pick on Apple) it looks like every single smartphone, tablet, and probably laptop is infringing one patent or another. This law could ban almost every portable device from accessing the internet. Definitely the way to promote the progress of art and science...
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HothMonster, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:25pm

Why is Italy shaped like a boot?

Because you can't fit that much shit in a shoe
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:31pm

How long before Anon/Lulz/etc submits accusations of infringement on every italian politician and triggers the one-strike internet banning on them? and then their offices. and then any company associated to them. and then any lobbyists.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:32pm

Copyright enforcement, 1984 style.

Double plus ungood: wikipedia refs unperson mike masnick.
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anonymous, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:33pm

Italy has ignored EU law before so i wont be surprised if it does so again. i sincerely hope that they are taken to the Court of Human Rights before it can be progressed any further! i mean a person doesn't even have to do anything wrong and can be banned from the 'net. just thinking of doing something wrong is going to be enough! the entertainment industries have obviously progressed into mind reading now. what's next, i ask myself?
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Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:34pm

Dear Italy,

I hereby accuse the following persons of illegally downloading the Hurt Locker:

[see enclosed phone book]

Sincerely, a concerned person
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Grae (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:38pm

Ultimately these sorts of laws will only undermine their own purpose by further alienating the general public from the idea that their type of laws have anything to do with reality and therefore deserve no respect or regard.

So- rock on lobbyist-funded Italian politicians? Way to cut off your own arm in an attempt to thwart the mosquito that's biting the back of your hand? It's not personally my thing but I guess some people enjoy exercises in futility?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:38pm

Re:
Google, FTP, email, VOIP, basically the entire internet.
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OC, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:45pm

Re:
"the entertainment industries have obviously progressed into mind reading now. what's next, i ask myself?"

Next? You buy DVD's of course. Duh!
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Anonymoose Custard, 19 Sep 2011 @ 1:54pm

This is ripe for abuse.
I, for one, want to get a list of IP addresses used by any and all Italian government officials.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:03pm

I would just "RAT" out all the Government Officials and their families as well.Then after I finished that list I would start working on an A-Z list of everyone until so many are "kicked" off the Internet there would be no net at all in Italy.
Hey why not ???
Won't take long for that silly law to be wiped off the books.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:08pm

Wait...
Did Itally just DDOS their entire population?
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HothMonster, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:09pm

Re:
after they kick the first troll off the internet he wont have much better to do with his time than this.

Here is to hoping some of our ACs are italian
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Bengie, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:15pm

Phonebook
Grab an Italian phonebook and go to town. There needs to be an outcry from ISPs and customers before they fix that.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:20pm

Re: Re:
I just ripped a rental from Disney does that count?
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:23pm

guess we can start by filing complaints against everyone in Italy's government.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:41pm

Re:
If I am reading this correctly, Joe Blow could get BOTH Itunes and Spotify banned.
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Stuart, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:43pm

Ummm
Let me just take a second or two here to say.

Fuck the Italian Government.
Fuck those who work for it.
and
Fuck those that do not stand against it.
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David Evans (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:46pm

That would be so awesome!
I sure hope this gets worked out and passed. No offense to the nice folks in Italy, but it would be cool to have a flaming wreck to point to when similar things are proposed anywhere else.

After this law causes the whole country's internet to die, we should be able to slap the media folks to death with the corpse, right?
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monkyyy, 19 Sep 2011 @ 2:57pm

Re: Ban 'em
i agree this should be a rather nice protest, quick easy and directly harming those who caused it
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Beta (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 3:10pm

Re:
The text of this law certainly implies that infringing services exist, so...

The fourth rule of the Centemero draft law is, do not talk about the Centemero draft law!
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Josef Anvil (profile), 19 Sep 2011 @ 3:13pm

Twice in one day??????
Ok Mike, two spoofs in a row? This just isn't your day. Is this TD or The Onion? Im confuzzled.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 3:40pm

Italy will remove itself from the internet.
Given that it's not possible to create an effective filter capable of blocking copyright infringement, assigning liability to the ISP will make it impossible to operate an ISP in italy.
Of course, since the one strike system will remove all the customers from the internet as well, I suppose that won't make much of a difference.
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Paolo, 19 Sep 2011 @ 3:52pm

Re: typo
Yes, it should be read as "compliant". I apologize for the typo.

Paolo
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Paolo, 19 Sep 2011 @ 4:03pm

Re: not a "hoax"
In the bottom of the "Twitlonger" post I included a link to the official draft text. You can check that the linked website is an official italian gov website ("Camera dei Deputati"). That said, it seems clear, at least with this first analysis, that some portions of the draft law are not applicable, not to mention the incompatibilities with the EU Acquis.

Paolo
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Jef, 19 Sep 2011 @ 4:34pm

Kill the Internet?
The more I read on all of these "x" number of strikes laws, the more I feel the Entertainment industry isn't trying to stop "pirating" via normal means. I think they are just flat out trying to turn off the internet. Without the internet, people would be forced back to buying things. All of these things are wish lists. It is all just one wish. A time machine......
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Paolo, 19 Sep 2011 @ 4:38pm

Re: Re: typo
Sorry again, I thought you referred to a typo in the original TwitLonger post, which is not there ("compliant" is correct :) ).

Paolo
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 4:41pm

Re: Italy will remove itself from the internet.
Because that worked out so well for Egypt...
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 4:57pm

Re:
not fast enough!
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 5:39pm

Re: Kill the Internet?
They're not trying to stop piracy, they're more than happy to see it, because they can use it as an excuse to get their laws passed.

They don't want to turn off the internet, they just want it to become a broadcast medium. It's great for delivering metered content to you, but it sucks if you can use it to compete with them by distributing your own original works.
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Ash Crill, 19 Sep 2011 @ 6:06pm

Of course this will only be used when it is worth their while, to silence political dissent and/or make an example.

Newspapers, government institutions and Corporations who routinely plagiarize and steal content will get a free pass as usual.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2011 @ 6:13pm

Self-Inflicted Injury
Anyone who votes for a crook to get into public office, has voted to keep themselves and all their fellow citizens in poverty. The Italians do not seem to have learnt this lesson yet. Their current prime minister has a massive conflict of interest, which has been well known for over a decade. It is baffling that the Italian electorate keeps on making the mistake of voting for crooks. Surely their history would have taught them better by now. Their injuries are self inflicted.

Remember, nobody should get sympathy for self-inflicted injuries.
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WysiWyg (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 12:48am

Re: Re: not a "hoax"
You understand Italian right? It's not some weird Google-translation-translation right?
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WysiWyg (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 12:55am

Re: Twice in one day??????
Do you know something you're not sharing?
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Neppe (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 1:04am

I've been to Italy a few times. There's way more open wifi there than in any other country I've ever been in.
This will get interesting pretty fast.
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fred, 20 Sep 2011 @ 5:15am

Didn't hear abot this law
I'm italian and this is news for me:
actually the latest try to enforce the law it's in an halted state with the head of communication guarantee Corrado Calabr� that just told he's not going proposing a 3strike law however they're already discussing other issues (but with the actual instability we have, i don't know how much enforcement can be done, people here is angry for other issues and lately there where violent protests too).
About the notice, it's possible that a deputy has proposed a bill like that, it happen often, but those bills are usually sank in few time; if you count how many bills like this one where proposed (many of them came from oversea pressure), you can tell that this one it's probably another unnecessary alarm;
I will investigate more and report if i get more info about.
...
Ok , this deputy is responsible of the law http://www.camera.it/29?shadow_deputato=302950 ,
the proposed bill, in italian unfortunately, here http://www.camera.it/Camera/view/doc_viewer_full?url=http%3A//www.camera.it/_dati/leg16/lavori/stamp ati/pdf/16PDL0051750.pdf&back_to=http%3A//www.camera.it/126%3FPDL%3D4549%26leg%3D16%26tab%3D2
t he law was proposed on july 11 and discussed on sept 12 but i can't find anything about sept 12 activities so it's probably still placed on a dead road.
Stupid politicians from Berlusconi party proposed many times similar bills, this one will never pass.
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fred, 20 Sep 2011 @ 5:26am

more
About that deputy, i searchd for info about:
She seem to be another Berlusconi's man, that tell a lot.
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hmm (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 5:55am

census!
italian 2001 census + new law = hilarity
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Oden, 20 Sep 2011 @ 5:58am

Burn
BURN THE WITCH ... we've done this dance before no?
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hmm (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 6:00am

distract me
step 1. Berlusconi suffocates ANOTHER hooker by sitting on her face

step 2. propose ridiculous law that gets all the press attention whilst an intern buries the corpse in Berlusconi's hooker-graveyard (application applied to extend the ground due to lack of space)

step 3. ??????? (thats the public being confused about the new law)

step 4. profit (i.e. Berlusconi doesn't go to prison and gets to sit on many more hooker-faces)
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thisguy, 20 Sep 2011 @ 7:35am

yeh
I accuse EVERYONE in italy of copyright infringement. That oughta show 'em
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 9:03am

Response to: HothMonster on Sep 19th, 2011 @ 1:25pm
After this comment everything and about the law and Italy actually make's sense. Thanks HothMonster.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 9:30am

banning
where can i submit an takedown notice, i want to submit one for mpaa.org and riaa.org
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Ram, 20 Sep 2011 @ 11:32am

This internet thing....
We need to get as many people as possible off of this internet thing! It's losing us money! And after all, it's just a fad...
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fred, 20 Sep 2011 @ 2:00pm

update: the never ending story
Original bill was proposed from deputy Fava Giovanni from one of the party composing the actual government, it was proposed time ago, i suppose this same year;
The bill has been proposed again from deputy Centemero Elena, from another party composing the actual government, there wasn't any fixes on the bill.
Now Giovanni Fava has reclaimed the copyright got that bill, and submitted a takedown notice to the isp responsible of the parliament website; use a translator for this page for more details: http://pierani.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/tensione-alla-camera-tra-pdl-e-lega-per-violazione-di-copyri ght-su-fine-opera-satirica-in-forma-di-ddl/
I would tell that this is hilarious, but unfortunately this peoples are ruling my country so i don't have anything to laught about.....
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Sep 2011 @ 4:51pm

Sounds like the trolling opportunity of a lifetime
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bugmenot (profile), 20 Sep 2011 @ 6:41pm

Who will guard the guards?
Quis custodiet ipsos custode?
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Counter, 21 Sep 2011 @ 6:04am

Re: update: the never ending story
That's actually a sarcastic piece, nothing of that sort happened. He's just pointing out how the two drafts are basically a cut and paste job (likely "suggested" by the usual lobbies, the same people who want some movement on the Section 301 department), so maybe copyright infringement is in order.
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fred, 21 Sep 2011 @ 6:36am

I was uncertain if the notice i linked was sarcastic or not;
today i searched again and found another article, in particulare italian Agcom (Authority for Communications) is discussing if a proposed bill can be covered by copyright since a bill proposal it's a work payed by taxes and a public work.
I'm still doubting about the copyright takedown notice because it's crazy thing, if i found more i'll update again.
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DannyB (profile), 22 Sep 2011 @ 8:33am

Re:
> it can't be a serious attempt at drafting a law,
> surely? I mean, even at a glance it's unworkable
> in any plane of reality.

Never underestimate the seriousness of crazy people.
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DannyB (profile), 22 Sep 2011 @ 8:38am

Please shut down Walmart and Amazon
Both Walmart and Amazon offer DVD's for sale over the Internet.

That leads me to believe that infringing services exist.
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