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.

An online fire is burning in Europe. It was set by what appears to be a designed campaign to transform the European intellectual property regime, towards a more restrictive set of rules directly affecting the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and information. We're seeing its implementation in Sweden, France, Italy, UK or at the EU level in Brussels.

Young Europeans do not want political parties in their lives. Only 4% of young people (15-29 year olds) participate in a political party or trade union (on Euronews (2:02 mark) from Eurostat statistics). This is a clear figure of what young people want or do no want. Political party politicians and their acolytes would quickly blame the education system, capitalism, the television or even the Playstation for the lack of interest in politics of young people.

Every year at the annual Personal Democracy Forum, we pick a theme to help give our ongoing conversation a focus. Two years ago, it was "Rebooting America." Last year, it was "We.gov." This year, we've decided to borrow a little inspiration from our friends at Edge.org and go with a big question: Can the Internet Fix Politics?

We're pleased (or sorry) to report that the block of tickets on sale at extra discounted "early-early-bird" rates for Personal Democracy Forum 2010 has sold out -- in fact, demand was greater than expected!