Italy, not generally renowned for shrewd governance, is planning to really take their reputation for asinine and retrogressive political decisions to the next level.
To whit: There is a law before the Culture Committtee of the Lower House to force every blogger in Italy to register with the ROC “Registro degli Operatori di Comunicazione” (Register of Communications Operators). They will need to be licensed by the state.
That blog is then subject to the regulations on the responsibilities connected to crimes via the printed word. If unregistered that blogger can be denounced for the crime of “clandestine publishing”: two years in prison and financial sanctions. Beppe Grillo explains more on his (as-yet unregistered) blog.
Grillo, a respected comedian, actor, and activist is spearheading a campaign called Free Blogger, which I support wholeheartedly, as a blogger, and former resident of Italy/Italophile.
You as a person, likely care about freedom of information, and are not particularly in favor of applying antiquated and restricted legal measures to a 21st Century digital medium. You then also care about this. For more outrage-inducing info read this post on Boing Boing.
Then:
Help the Italian bloggers! Let them see that we all want to remain free bloggers.
Send in your photos with the words: “FREE BLOGGER”
Send an email to freeblogger@beppegrillo.it with:
– subject: your name
– text: the address of your blog
– attached: a photo of you with a sign saying “FREE BLOGGER”
Get on it!
