FULOG

The copyright industry has asked Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) to give itself the power to set up administrative procedures to block access to websites that facilitate piracy. However, Italian ISPs, associations and companies have sent an open letter to the regulator, saying that it does not have the authority to take such action and that this would be an expensive burden on state finances.

The letter was signed by the following organisations:

ALTROCONSUMO associazione indipendente di consumatori

ASSOPROVIDER (associazione provider indipendenti) –Confcommercio

ASSONET Associazione Nazionale Imprese nel Settore delle Telecomunicazioni e dell’informatica

AIIP, Associazione Italiana Internet Provider

Associazione Articolo21, liberi di…

Free Hardware Foundation Italia

IWA Italy – International Webmasters Association

Linux Club Italia

Stati Generali dell’ Innovazione

Rete dell’Innovazione

APICI, Associazione Piccole Imprese e Consulenti per l’Informatica

Liber Liber (ONLUS)

ASSINTEL- Associazione Nazionale Imprese ICT-Confcommercio

Fondazione AHREF-Bruno Kessler

Fondazione Il secolo della Rete

CNA Comunicazione

CNA  Con federazione Nazionale artigianato, piccole e medie imprese Giovani

CGT Circolo dei Giuristi telematici

following on Telecompaper

Italian Public Prosecutor Says File-Sharing Site Is ‘Receiving Stolen Goods’

http://www.lidis.it/eng/newsdetail.asp?ID=997

An enourmous error led to two Danish ISPs mistakenly blocking around 8,000 websites, including Google and Facebook, for several hours on the grounds of containing child pornography. Customers of the Siminn ISP who tried to access the affected pages were greeted with the following message:

“The National High Tech Crime Center of the Danish National Police [NITEC], who assist in investigations into crime on the internet, has informed Siminn Denmark A/S, that the internet page which your browser has tried to get in contact with may contain material which could be regarded as child pornography. Upon the request of The National High Tech Crime Center of the Danish National Police, Siminn Denmark A/S has blocked the access to the internet page.”

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced two days ago at the USA Senat,  the Strengthening and Enhancing Cybersecurity by Using Research, Education, Information, and Technology Act of 2012 (SECURE IT Act).

The bill’s cosponsors include Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dan Coats (R-IN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Richard Burr (R-NC).

In a hearing in the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs last month, Senator McCain expressed procedural and substantive concerns about the “Cybersecurity Act of 2012,” S. 2105, which was sponsored by Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and John D. Rockefeller, IV (D-WV), and he announced his intention to put forward a competing cybersecurity bill

Trade commissioner Karel De Gucht announced the move on Wednesday, saying he shared protestors’ concerns about freedoms and rights. He said the referral to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) would cut through the “fog of uncertainty” surrounding the pact.

”I am glad to say that this morning my fellow commissioners have discussed and agreed in general with my proposal to refer the ACTA agreement to the European Court of Justice,” De Gucht said in a statement. “We are planning to ask Europe’s highest court to assess whether ACTA is incompatible — in any way — with the EU’s fundamental rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression and information, or data protection and the right to property, in case of intellectual property.”

source: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/intellectual-property/2012/02/22/acta-to-be-examined-by-top-eu-court-40095104/

The Judge of the preliminary investigations of Belluno, Italy,  on  request of local Prosecutor, has ordered the seizure of www.Vajont.info portal, the website that told with pictures and articles, the story of the massacre following the collapse of the dam Vajont of 1963, that claimed the death of 1910 people, for a sentence considered offensive to the reputation of Mr Domenico  Scilipoti and Maurizio Paniz,  two MPs from the majority of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

On 12 February 2008, while launching the International Year of Planet Earth, UNESCO cited the Vajont Dam tragedy as one of five “cautionary tales”, caused by “the failure of engineers and geologists”
The measure requested by the prosecutor  however, has been adopted not only for a page containing the sentence or   the whole portal, but also against 226 internet service providers Italians, who were ordered to “restraining the respective users access to the web www.vajont.info, with aliases and domain names present and future, returning to that site, the static IP address that at the time of seizure is associated the said domain name, and any additional static IP address that will be associated in the future (interdiction to address resolution via DNS). “

The Economist on ACTA “That is probably exaggerated: ACTA is intentionally vague (signatories are left to draw up precise rules themselves). But it is potentially draconian. Infringers could be liable for the total loss of potential sales (implying that everyone who buys a pirated product would have bought the real thing). It applies to unintentional use of copyright material. It puts the onus on website owners to ensure they comply with laws across several territories. It has been negotiated secretively and outside established international trade bodies (despite EU criticisms)”.