Due to the multiplication of breaking news related to online criminality in Italy (Facebook groups exalting famous mafia bosses, Google executives accused of defamation and violating privacy for “allowing” a video to be posted online showing an autistic youth being abused, growing concern about online piracy, etc..), the issue of Internet regulation has acquired a very important role on the Italian political scene. Because of the lack of “web culture” characterizing many Italian decision-makers – who often tend to use their Internet sites more as a showcase for their political activities than as a means to interact with their electorate – there is a generalized tendency to try to impose restrictive rules to the Internet, taking inspiration from regulation usually applied to traditional media such as newspapers or TV without taking into account the Web’s specificity.

Recent examples of this trend include a bill extending rectification and removal duties applicable to traditional media to “Internet sites”, which could force any blogger to immediately remove any content deemed unfair by the person it refers to, or else, if he/she is on holiday and has no access to the Internet for example, the blogger will be forced to pay very high sanctions. Another worrying measure, which was finally abrogated, allowed the Interior Ministry to block access to any web site with contents inciting or justifying criminal behaviour, without prior opinion of a judicial authority: access to Facebook, for example, could have been blocked because of the existence of insulting or illegal facebook groups.

In the light of this situation a growing number of young MPs belonging to the “Internet generation”, but also of “older” politicians who have become aware of the fundamental role the Internet can play in the economic recovery of the country and in re-establishing a relationship between politics and citizens, have decided to create a bi-partisan platform for debate between institutions, businesses and single users about the Internet, its opportunities and its challenges: the 2.0 Inter-parliamentary Group. Members of the group include centre right MP Roberto Cassinelli, who was the first Italian decision-maker to write a bill in cooperation with internet users, including their suggestions in the draft he filed in Parliament, but also center-left Senators Luigi Vimercati and Vincenzo Vita, who have recently launched an online consultation related to their bill on net neutrality.

These parliamentaries and many others have progressively gathered around the obvious, but unfortunately not always self-evident idea that Internet-related issues need to be discussed and their consequences properly understood before they are subject to legislative decisions. To do this the 2.0 Inter-Parliamentary Group is open to dialogue and confrontation with the Internet World using Web 2.0 tools: it has its own blog , as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts. It will soon launch an online consultation on Internet-related issues, whose results will be presented to the Chairs of the Senate and Lower House and transmitted to all parliamentary colleagues. The “2.0 Parliamentaries” are also pushing for the introduction of specific web tools to open information available on the Parliament’s institutional sites to users’ comments and suggestions.

Many national and international Internet users have applauded the initiative of an Inter-parliamentary group and put their hopes in it; some bloggers and web experts assimilate it to just another occasion for Italian decision-makers to show their interest for innovation without actually doing anything about it.

I, as one of those who have chosen to promote and support the Inter-Parliamentary Group and contribute to its day-by-day organization and activities, personally believe that this project, as weak and amateur as it might be, could actually represent a first step toward online democratic participation in Italy if we, as Internet experts or simply as users, just tried to give it a chance and maybe even a second one if the first doesn’t work, focusing on those decision-makers (and there are more than people think) who actually want things to change and are ready to listen to citizens’ ideas and suggestions.

Something to discuss and improve during the Personal Democracy Forum Europe in Barcelona!