YouTube is taking some big steps in hosting more premium content on its site, but is it ready to be subject to the same rules as a full-fledged broadcaster? This might turn out to be the case in Italy, if a new decree gets put into effect later this month.
Under the plans, video sites like Google’s YouTube would be required to get government permission to host copyrighted video content, and they would also be required to get broadcasting licenses. And perhaps most importantly they would also become liable for any illegal content on their sites. The rules would make Italy the first European country to make Internet companies accountable for content uploaded by its users, a spokesperson for the European Digital Media Association tells the WSJ. The EDMA is a trade group that represents Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and others.
This decree, which was created as an enactment of a European Union decree on product placement, has been the subject of a lot of protest in Italy, not just from the Internet companies that would be affected.
Paolo Gentiloni, Democratic Party member of parliament, said in a press conference in January that the law would mean an “incredible limitation on the way the Internet currently functions.” Another party member, Vincenzo Vita: “Italy joins the club of the censors, together with China, Iran and North Korea.” (via The Standard)
And Nicola D’Angelo, a commissioner in Italy’s Communications Authority said: “Italy will be 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.” The Communications Authority may end up playing a role in how the decree would get enforced.
Another contentious point was that the decree could potentially apply to all of those who use the internet for video – that is, not just the sites that show the content, but also the individuals that upload it. The WSJ notes that Paolo Romani, the deputy minister of communications, has said that the decree would be modified so that individuals would not be liable.
Things have not been going Google’s way legally in Italy of late:
– In December the company was forced to remove content from the Silvio Berlusconi-owned Mediaset network, an end to a case stretching back to July 2008. The order covers 4,643 clips totaling 325 hours.
– The Competition Authority searched Google’s Milan offices in an investigation over unfair use of newspaper content. This case is ongoing.
– It’s also fighting a over a bullying video uploaded to YT, which has actually pinpointed four separate Google execs in the process.
Comments have been disabled for this post