Monday, October 22, 2007

The end of free speech blogging as we know it

"Ricardo Franco Levi, Prodi’s right hand man , undersecretary to the President of the Council, has written the text to put a stopper in the mouth of the Internet. The draft law was approved by the Council of Ministers on 12 October. No Minister dissociated themselves from it. On gagging information, very quietly, these are all in agreement.

The Levi-Prodi law lays out that anyone with a blog or a website has to register it with the ROC, a register of the Communications Authority, produce certificates, pay a tax, even if they provide information without any intention to make money."

Beppe Grillo's blog

Digestif in shock
What?
Are they serious?
If this actually happens, which I doubt (I envision some form of community uproar), there would be a snowballing of this type of irrational behaviour.
Blogging actually changed the scape of media, by allowing the average Joe their own soap box. News services have become more accountable, companies became more transparent and fact checking even more important.

Why are people so afraid of progress? Actually, why are governments, large corporations and those in control afraid of anyone else having a turn at the reigns?

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