Policy Observatory

On March 31, 2015, the Italian Authority AGCOM published the results of one year implementation of the IPR regulation: 209 requests received, of which 207 concerning web sites and 2 concerning the audiovisual media. The AGCM processed 134 dossiers: 57% in ordinary procedures and 43% in urgent procedure (requiring a decision within 12 working days). 42% of the requests concerned audiovisual products; 23% photographs;14% audio products; and 12% editorial works. Very few requests concerned literary works, software and videogames. About 55% of the dossiers ended with the spontaneous removal of the contested content, while 35% of the procedures regarding strong violation of the regulation ended with the DNS block. The actions against piracy carried out by Italian authorities and in particular by the Guardia di Finanza allowed to block the activities of 15 illegal platforms in the sector of music industry. On April 29, 19 online kiosks have been closed by the Guardia di Finanza, in the framework of the operation “Black Press Review”.  According to the AGCOM these data show the efficacy of the IPR regulation. A contrary view is expressed by some lawyers, who argue that IPR regulation is lacking efficacy, since the blocked websites are likely to be soon replaced by new ones, and voices believe that the AGCOM regulation is de-facto encouraging piracy.

On March 30, 2016, the FIEG Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali (Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers), in accordance with the AGCOM rule, obtained the removal of 30.000 daily publications and newspapers illegally available at http://www.emerotecaonline.it. The owner of the website agreed and removed the illegal content.

Social media giants Facebook, Google's YouTube, Twitter and Microsoft said on Monday they were forming a global working group to combine their efforts to remove terrorist content from their platforms.