It all starts with a law, passed in 1948, requiring publishers to register officially before setting up a new publication.  The law contradicts Article 21 of the Italian Constitution which guarantees the right to free expression.  It’s likely that the law was put in place after the fall of Fascism, to regulate extremist publications.  Italian society became used to a very bureaucratic approach to freedom of the press.  If you run an unregistered publication, you are guilty of “stampa clandestina” or running a clandestine publication.

So what’s this got to to with the Internet you ask?

In 2001, the Italian government realized that existing laws were inadequate to deal with the Internet.  Rather than learning to deal with this free speech venue as a new venue, the Government passed Law 62, which carries this same “stampa clandestina” concept to the Internet.  

So what happened in this case?

In May of this year, historian and author Carlo Ruta was found guilty of the crime of “stampa clandestina” - publishing an “clandestine” newspaper - except in this case, what he publishes is a blog.  The judge in the case (in Modica, Sicily) ruled that the blog had a headline, which made it an online newspaper, thus falling within the boundaries of Law 62.

If that wasn’t bad enough, this month, a senior italian politician went one step further, warning that most web activity is likely to be against Italian law. 

While the crime is not severe, penalties are a fine of 250 Euros, or 2 years in prison, the blogger was fined, and ordered to take down his blog.  Not terribly serious, except now, he has a criminal record, and his blog is gone. (He has since put up a new site).

So, you may ask, what was his blog about, that it had to be driven from the face of the Internet?  His blog documented historical links between politics, and the Mafia, which suddenly starts to make perfect sense.

And this isn’t a single incident.   Since May, a second blogger has fallen victim to this statute, and unless a higher court reverses the Ruta decision, Italy and Italians have lost one of the most precious freedoms known to man.