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### Viewing cable 10ROME125, OPPONENTS OF ITALIAN INTERNET BILL SAY IT STIFLES

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
10ROME125 | 2010-02-03 16:04 | 2010-12-13 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Rome

`

    VZCZCXRO5383
    RR RUEHFL RUEHNP
    DE RUEHRO #0125/01 0341628
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    R 031628Z FEB 10
    FM AMEMBASSY ROME
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3211
    INFO RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE 4007
    RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN 0454
    RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES 4237
    RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
    RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000125

    SIPDIS

    STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR JENNIFER CHOE GROVES, ERIN
    MCCONAHA, CHRISTOPHER WILSON
    STATE PLEASE PASS TO PHILLIP VERVEER
    STATE PLEASE PASS TO EEB/TPP/IPE FOR TOM O'KEEFE, JOELLEN
    URBAN
    COMMERCE PLEASE PASS TO SUSAN WILSON

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2020
    TAGS: ECPS ETTC KIPR EINT IT
    SUBJECT: OPPONENTS OF ITALIAN INTERNET BILL SAY IT STIFLES
    FREE SPEECH, THREATENS DEMOCRACY

    REF: 09 ROME 0143

    Classified By: Classified by DCM Elizabeth Dibble for reasons 1.4 (b) a
    nd (d)

    ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Opponents of a new bill before Italian
    parliament that would further regulate the Internet say it
    endangers free speech and is a threat to Italian democracy.
    The bill also appears to favor PM Berlusconi's Mediaset
    television service while disadvantaging Sky, one of its major
    competitors. The GOI says the bill is intended to implement
    an EU directive that harmonizes media regulation and that the
    provisions being criticised are designed to establish greater
    protection of copyrighted material, to protect children from
    inappropriate broadcasts, and to keep consumers from paying
    twice by being subjected to excessive advertising on pay-TV
    channels. Opponents say the law far exceeds the scope and
    spirit of the EU law and severely restricts free expression
    on the Internet. Due to advertising and content regulation
    in the bill, some have read it as an effort to give
    Berlusconi greater control over communication and to drive
    out Mediaset's competitors. Implementation of the bill has
    been postponed from its original date of January 27 and
    parliament is holding hearings on the matter. The GOI
    appears open to discussion of the bill's text. While
    reaction to the bill has been strong among opposition
    politicians and telecom professionals, the issue has not made
    it to the front pages of newspapers so there has been no
    strong public reation. Despite GOI protestations, the bill
    is troubling as it appears to have been written to give the
    government enough leeway to block or censor any Internet
    content. END SUMMARY

    ¶2. (SBU) According to the GOI, the Romani Bill (named for
    Paolo Romani, Deputy Economic Development Minister, who
    covers communications issues) is designed to implement EU
    Directive 2007/65CE, which aims to harmonize media regulation
    in the EU. Many telecom sector professionals, however,
    believe that the bill vastly exceeds the scope and spirit of
    the EU law. The bill is complex, but there are three primary
    areas of concern: limits to uploading on the Interet,
    television advertising ceilings, and limits to content aimed
    for adults, which would also restrict films judged by the
    Italian rating system as being for those 14 and older. This
    would likely include the vast majority if not all
    U.S.-produced PG-13 movies.

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    LIABILITY FOR VIDEO ON THE INTERNET
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    ¶3. (U) Provisions contained in the bill would make Internet
    service providers (ISPs), and hosting sites such as Blogspot
    and YouTube, liable for content in the same way a television
    station is. In the strictest interpretation of the law, the
    sites and ISPs would have to monitor all content on their
    sites, content which is uploaded by millions of individual
    users. This is widely viewed as impossible both in practical
    and economic terms. The Italian Communications Authority
    (AGCOM) would be responsible for oversight of the law, and
    some have interpreted the bill as requiring government
    permission before a video could be uploaded.

    ¶4. (C) Antonello Busetto, director of institutional relations
    for Confindustria Servizi Innovativi e Tecnologici, a
    business association representing the interests of IT
    companies, said the measure would mean "the death of the
    Internet in Italy."

    ¶5. (U) Italian communications commissioner Nicola D'Angelo
    was quoted in the press as saying, "Italy will be the only
    Western country in which it is necessary to have prior
    government permission to operate this kind of service...This
    aspect reveals a democratic risk, regardless of who happens
    to be in power." Likewise, AGCOM president Corrado Calabro
    has said that Italy would be unique in the West as imposing
    Internet restrictions until now only imposed by authoritarian
    governments.

    ¶6. (SBU) The GOI says the measure is aimed at protecting
    copyrighted material from being uploaded and downloaded

    ROME 00000125 002 OF 003

    illegally, as well as at monitoring other potentially illegal
    activity on the Internet. The copyright industry has
    expressed some limited approval of the bill. Enzo Mazza,
    president of the Italian Music Federation, said the music
    industry is generally in favor of making ISPs and sites more
    responsible for protecting copyrighted material, though, he
    added that his industry's analysis of the bill was focused on
    this aspect and not other implications.

    ¶7. (SBU) Because this could make ISPs and opinion sites
    liable for defamation in the way television broadcasts are,
    some see this as an effort to control political discourse on
    the Internet. Others see a commercial angle aimed at limiting
    the video and TV available on the Internet as Mediaset moves
    into the Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) market.
    Alessandro Gilioli, who writes a blog for the liberal weekly
    magazine Espresso wrote "It's the Berlusconi method: Kill
    your potential enemies while they are small. That's why
    anyone doing Web TV -- even from their attic at home -- must
    get ministerial approval and fulfill a host of other
    bureaucratic obligations."

    ¶8. (SBU) AGCOM would have the authority to enforce the law.
    Among the authority's powers would be the ability to block
    traffic into Italy of sites whose content did not meet the
    requirements of the law. For example, YouTube could be
    blocked because the content was not uploaded with government
    approval. AGCOM would also be able to levy fines of up to
    150,000 euros against foreign companies violating the law.
    Though AGCOM is theoretically an independent agency, many
    fear that it may not be strong enough to resist political
    pressure.

    - - - - - - - - - - -
    ADVERTISING CEILINGS
    - - - - - - - - - - -

    ¶9. (C) The bill would place limits on advertising on pay-TV
    channels that exceed the EU directive. It would reduce the
    EU ceiling of 20% to 12% in Italy by 2012. The provision
    would penalize Sky in particular. Some argue that the
    measure is designed to favor PM Berlusconi's free-to-air
    Mediaset channels, which would not be subject to the limit.
    Mediaset's pay channels would be subject to the advertising
    ceiling, but Mediaset's channels currently have less than 12%
    each hour dedicated to ads. In addition, reducing the
    overall possibility to advertise on pay-TV would push
    advertising towards free channels operated by Mediaset and by
    the Italian state network RAI. Busetto said this would allow
    Berlusconi to earn more money and also to exercise greater
    control of public information.

    - - - - - - - - -
    ADULT CONTENT
    - - - - - - - - -

    ¶10. (SBU) The bill places stringent time restrictions on
    broadcasting of so-called "adult content," virtually
    prohibiting it between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Pay channels such
    as those offered by Sky would be subject to the restrictions;
    it appears pay-per-view content would be as well. Because
    they obtain a significant part of their income from pay adult
    content, pay-TV would suffer financially from this
    restriction. The bill would limit broadcast of any film
    rated for viewers above age 14 to after 10:30 p.m. One press
    report said this would make films such as Saturday Night
    Fever unavailable until late-night. Again, some opponents
    worry that the objective is to hurt Mediaset's competition.

    - - - - - - - -
    EU OPINION
    - - - - - - - -

    ¶11. (U) Opinion at the EU appears to be conflicting.
    According to press reports, the EU is threatening to start an
    infraction procedure against Italy for failing to swiftly
    implement the media directive. At the same time, other press
    reports say the restrictions in the Italian bill would
    likely violate the EU e-commerce directive.

    - - - - - - -

    ROME 00000125 003 OF 003

    COMMENT
    - - - - - - -

    ¶12. (C) In official statements the government insists the
    bill is in no way intended to stifle free speech. Opponents
    are vocal and using alarmist language, but outside of telecom
    industries their numbers appear to be small. There has been
    no visible public outrage, and even Beppe Grillo, a public
    personality usually outspoken about government regulation,
    especially that involving the Internet, has said very little.

    ¶13. (C) After Berlusconi was attacked in Milan in December
    and a Facebook fan page for his attacker quickly amassed
    fans, the GOI expressed the need for regulation of social
    networking sites. At that time, Romani said the government
    would work with ISPs and sites to develop a method of
    self-regulation and that there would be no attempt to
    legislate internet content. Despite Romani's prior
    statements, this bill appears to have been written to give
    the government enough leeway to block or censor any Internet
    content it deems defamatory or to be encouraging criminal
    activity.

    ¶14. (C) For years, the USG has urged the GOI to take action
    to protect copyrighted material on the Internet, in
    particular encouraging the establishment of clear
    notice-and-takedown procedures and cooperation among rights
    holders and ISPs to prevent illegal filesharing. Italy has
    done very little. Now, this bill skips over collaboration,
    and suddenly moves directly to very stern regulation. In
    light of its reluctance to take action on this issue in the
    past, and also given the many commercial advantages that this
    law appears to give Mediaset and state TV, the GOI claim that
    Internet provisions of this law are aimed at copyright
    protection alone are suspect.

    ¶15. (C) In all liklihood, if this bill were to become law as
    it is currently written, little would change immediately in
    the way Internet sites operate in Italy, and the average 11th
    grader uploading video to his blog would never be targeted
    for legal action. It would, however, provide a basis for
    legal actions against media operators that proved to be
    commercial or political competition for government figures.
    Over the last three years we have seen several GOI efforts to
    exert control over the Internet, including one infamous
    effort to require bloggers to obtain GOI journalism licenses.

    ¶16. (C) Advocates of Internet freedom have repeatedly warned
    us that Italy's traditional elites -- on both sides of the
    political spectrum -- are very uncomfortable with the
    Internet's ability to bypass the traditional media that they
    control. Becasue this new bill seems to address these kinds
    of concerns, and because it also serves Berlusconi's business
    interests, it is conceivable that this seemingly improbable
    legislation might actually come into force in Italy. We note
    that officers from SKY have told us that Deputy GOI Minister
    Romani (for whom the new bill is named) has been leading
    efforts within the GOI to help Berlusconi's Mediaset and to
    put SKY at a disadvantage. This represents a familiar
    pattern: Berslusoni and Mediaset have been using government
    power in this way ever since the days of Prime Minister
    Bettino Craxi. In addition, this bill would set precidents
    that nations such as china could copy or cite as
    justification for their own crackdowns on free speech.
    THORNE

`