Italy's Berlusconi regime, already known around the world as an enemy of

free speech and popular access to the tools of communication, has now

floated a proposal to require Italians to get an "uploader's license" in order

to put any "moving pictures" on the Internet. The government claims that

this is required as part of the EU's product placement disclosure rules, which

is about as ridiculous assertion as I've heard this month.



"The decree subjects the transmission of images on the Web to rules typical of television and requires prior ministerial authorization, with an incredible limitation on the way the Internet currently functions," opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Paolo Gentiloni told the press conference.

Article 4 of the decree specifies that the dissemination over the Internet "of moving pictures, whether or not accompanied by sound," requires ministerial authorization. Critics say it will therefore apply to the Web sites of newspapers, to IPTV and to mobile TV, obliging them to take on the same status as television broadcasters.

"Italy joins the club of the censors, together with China, Iran and North Korea," said Gentiloni's party colleague Vincenzo Vita…

"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," Gilioli wrote. He said the government was also keen to restrict the uncontrollable circulation of information over the Internet to preserve its monopoly over television news.