World Italy: Internet Censorship Looms Over Youtube

ITALY (GaeaTimes.com)- Even before the controversy over Google's operations in China could die down, the Internet search giant has got embroiled in another controversy. This time the company is locking horns with the Government of Italy. The Google versus Silvio Berlusconi ( Italy ) : Internet censorship looms over YouTube issue is likely to become a widely searched topic in the coming days. If the Italian government implements a new law that will mean trouble for Google as the law enforces internet content censorship. Google owns the YouTube video service. Such moves are almost unprecedented in European nations.
However, the Google versus Silvio Berlusconi face off will give the critics of the leader in Italy a chance to attack him. As the Internet censorship looms over YouTube the opponents see a plot to support the Mediaset network owned by Silvio Berlusconi. If the law is indeed implemented it will affect the bloggers community to a great extent. The owners of sites with video content are also likely to get affected. As per the new rules, The ISPs will be forced to remove contents deemed inappropriate by the state. Otherwise the ISP will have to pay a fine of $210,000.
Google has expressed its concern at the development and the Google versus Silvio Berlusconi fiasco is going to hot up with time. It has stated that the Internet Censorship that looms over YouTube may destroy the online sharing system. However, it remains to be seen if Google would like to pull out its operations from Italy or not.



Source:Google Versus Berlusconi(Italy): Internet Censorship Looms Over Youtube

ACCORDING TO Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF or Reporters Without Borders), an increasing number of governments are trying to control the Internet.

The RSF has drawn up a list of the worst offenders, and we have shelved any holiday plans in those countries that we might have had. The list of shame includes: Saudi Arabia, Burma, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.

Governments closer to home are not immune to the allure of controlling their citizens access either. The RSF said that Western democracies were slipping Internet rules into force "in the name of the fight against child pornography or the theft of intellectual property." It added that it had seen this most notably in "Australia, France, Italy and Great Britain."

Vikram ji

I share RSF concerns about regulation of the Internet. There should be as little as possible. When islamist states and military dictatorships do it I am not surprised because to control information is to control public perception. That is the avenue to complete management of the people -- mind control. They can be shaped for generations that way. China a case in point.

The news about the others -- democracies - is not good. But one of the big culprits in this is YouTube which refuses to police itself effectively. The freedom of the Internet is a deeply held value. Restrictions on expression always have negative consequences if only because a precedent is set. But have you ever tried to get YouTube to even respond to complaints about material that was libelous, slanderous, or that promoted violent acts against innocent people, or supported blatantly illegal acts of terrorism? have you ever tried to find out who to contact directly?

YouTube is intransigent on this issue. They protect their own intellectual property very well -- and even take people to court. That is another story. In my opinion, YouTube is managed by people who act like religious fanatics-- they see their own decisions as pure and faultless, while ignoring the damage done to others. Truly I have mixed feelings about this. Self-regulation by YouTube would have prevented a lot of this. And they went in a different direction.