Italy Floats Official Permission Requirement for Web Video Uploads. Italy Plans to Hold YouTube Accountable for its Users' Uploads (Updated) The Italian government is moving ahead with its plans to hold YouTube accountable for its users' copyright infringements. According to new regulations that have recently been proposed by the Italian government, YouTube would have to get a TV license to operate in Italy. Should Italy move ahead with this regulation, YouTube would have to follow the same rules and regulations as traditional broadcast channels. These new rules would eliminate the "safe harbor" rules that currently shield services like YouTube. According to Nicola D'Angelo, a commissioner in Italy's Communications Authority, these new rules would make Italy "the only Western country in which it is necessary to have prior government permission to operate this kind of service.
This aspect reveals a democratic risk, regardless of who happens to be in power. " Update: We just heard back from Google. A "Mere Conduit" How Will Google React? Google, of course, is already embroiled in a legal conflict with Italy. "YouTube è come una tv" Agcom vara i nuovi obblighi. Due delibere appena pubblicate impongono regole ai siti di video generati dagli utenti. Destinate a far discutere le norme sulla responsabilità editoriale, l'obbligo di rettifica e le fasce protette di ALESSANDRO LONGO IL 2010 si conclude con un "regalo" sgradito per YouTube, DailyMotion e altri popolarissimi siti che ospitano video generati dagli utenti. Due delibere appena pubblicate dall'Autorità per le garanzie nelle comunicazioni (Agcom) li equiparano a servizi radiotelevisivi, con tutte le conseguenze del caso. L'Italia è probabilmente il primo Paese occidentale a fare questo salto interpretativo, da cui derivano obblighi inediti per i siti internet.
Neanche il contestatissimo decreto Romani si era spinto a ipotizzare per i siti "ugc", fatti cioè di contenuti generati dagli utenti, incombenze come quelle disposte dall'Agcom. Le due delibere sono quelle su web tv e web radio, approvate il mese scorso. La prima condizione è scontata: basta un po' di pubblicità. Italy rules YouTube and other video sites are like TV stations, are liable for content. Strange policy changes are afoot in Italy, where the government's Communications Authority has just issued two resolutions that effectively turn YouTube and other video services into TV stations subject to stricter regulation -- and stricter liability for the content they host. Under the new rules, any site that exercises even the smallest amount of editorial control over its content will be considered an "audiovisual service," and have to pay additional taxes, take down videos within 48 hours if anyone complains of slander, and -- most oddly of all -- somehow refrain from broadcasting videos "unsuitable for children" at certain times of the day.
(No, we have no idea how that works with an online video site.) Making matters worse, the new rules give creedence to the notion that video service providers are somehow directly responsible for what their users post to the site -- even if the only "editorial control" they exercise is automated and not overseen by actual humans. Comments. Time For Google To Leave Italy? Italy Announces That YouTube Responsible For All Content.