Sunday, October 28, 2007

Kill the Bloggers!

It used to be kill the lawyers, but now governments are taking real notice of the blogosphere.
I can only suppose that lawyers are now in the pockets of the government, or as more my experience government is now the provience of lawyers.

It is with great note that we should pay attention to this article from the British National Party about the efforts in Italy to stifle free speech.


Blogs may not have yet toppled dictatorial regimes or solved the world’s environmental problems but they have a devastating effect on governments which try and stifle democracy as the recent events in Burma have shown.

As quickly as the Burmese authorities were closing down websites of dissidents, new ones were launched by freedom loving supporters in neighbouring countries and beyond.The same attempts to stifle freedom of speech carried out by the military junta in Burma appear to be replicated 5000 miles closer to home in the form of a new law proposed by Ricardo Franco Levi, undersecretary to the President of the Council in Italy, and approved by the Council of Ministers on 12 October.

And what does this law say?
I'll clue you in.

The proposed law states that anyone with a blog or a website has to register it with the ROC (Registro degli Operatori della Comunicazione), part of the Communications Authority, produce certificates, and pay a tax, even if they provide information online without any intention to make money.

http://www.bnp.org.uk/news_detail.php?newsId=1807

Well, I do not live in Italy, but how long will it take to become law in for the European Union?


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