The internet in Italy

So I've complained a lot about how terrible the internet connection in the dorm is (currently writing this from school.) For one of my classes I'm doing a paper about the Internet in Italy, and I was surprised to learn that only 42% of Italian households have Internet access (compared with almost 92% in the US).

Furthermore, there has been a lot of debate about freedom of speech on the Internet. It should come as no surprise that the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government (which has a virtual monopoly on television) has proposed at least 3 laws that would give itself more power in regulating the Internet: a law "compelling online broadcasters to to seek the same licensing agreements as broadcast television," a law banning anonymous internet posting, and a law that would allow "anyone feeling defamed by a blog post, forum thread, or status message on Facebook to request the author rectify the post within 48 hours" or face a 10,000 euro fine in addition to potential damages and legal costs.

Furthermore, Italy sued Google for not being prompt enough to take down a video (uploaded by a user) that showed an autistic boy being bullied by other boys. Certainly this is a terrible video to post on the internet, but holding Google responsible for the content posted by one of its users is simply absurd.

I love it here, don't get me wrong, but the politics and bureaucracy are hopelessly corrupt and misguided almost invariably. I could never live here for real.