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.

an exciting time to be here

In my first Sociology of Postwar Italy class last night, the prof alerted us that it's an exciting time to be living here, as there is a real possibility for the dissolution of the current governing coalition. This could be great for Italy, because Prime Minister Berlusconi is one of the most crooked guys in world government, who essentially keeps changing the laws to protect himself from extensive criminal charges of corruption. He is the richest man in Italy who also basically owns the media (all 6 TV stations and a major newspaper) so his ousting would be a particularly historic occasion.

Since I've been here, I've noticed that there is a ton of graffiti everywhere. My political science prof explained this as reflective of the Italian attitude towards public property. Despite being one of the earliest republics, Italy has not been a democracy for much of its history and lacks the "for the people, by the people" sense that we have in America. My soc prof pointed out that a lot of the graffiti is political, and he showed us several symbols that are commonly drawn by extremist groups on the right (neo-fascists) and the left (communist terrorists.) I can't wait to learn enough of the language so that I can hear Italians' opinions on all of this.