Italy

2010

  
Berlusconi finds a wiretap bill more difficult to pass than expected. (AP/Riccardo De Luca)

In Italy, vote postponed on Berlusconi’s ‘gag law’

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is leaving for vacation in a very bad mood. On Thursday, the House of Deputies, although dominated by Berlusconi’s center-right coalition, decided to postpone until September its vote on a wiretap bill that had been considered a bellwether by a government wracked by internecine wars and confronted with ominous poll…

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Israeli forces detain journalists aboard humanitarian flotilla

New York, June 1, 2010–Israel should immediately release the journalists it detained along with hundreds of peace activists on Monday after Israeli forces stormed a convoy of ships carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. According to international news reports and CPJ interviews, Israeli forces arrested at least 20…

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David Drummond is one of three Google executives given a suspended prison term. (Reuters)

Chilling Google verdict in Italy

Italy was already the Internet freedom bad boy among western European democracies with its plans to extend broadcast TV licensing requirements to video sites. But the conviction today by a Milan judge of three Google executives is more than a one-off case of antisocial cyber behavior. It could end the protection that Web platforms now enjoy for…

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2010