A Stitch in Haste

Wow. Just wow:

Italian bloggers may be required to register with a national database, unless an ambiguously-worded new law is amended before it comes into force.

Widespread outrage among bloggers and IT-savvy journalists has reached the mainstream press, and the government now appears to be keen to revise a draft law which has led politician Francesco Caruso to remark: "This is Italy, not Burma."
...
According to many legal experts, the murky text of the law can be construed to include non-professional, not-for-profit blogs and websites among "editorial products", giving them the same duties and liabilities as magazines and newspapers.

This would require even the lowliest Italian blogger or MySpace account holder to go through the hassle of filing personal details with the national registry of "communication operators" currently reserved for professionals of the publishing sector.

Besides its Big Brother-esque implications, this registration would also expose bloggers to penalties and jail terms if a blog post, or even a reader's comment, were considered libelous.

In a civilized nation, in a civilized century?

The politicians and bureaucrats responsible for this proposed human rights violation are of course backpedaling and insisting that, no no no, they of course did not intend to silence bloggers and that the rules (you can't just have a law, you need "rules" interpreting the law) would be developed later (by "enlightened" bureaucrats, obviously).

Fortunately we don't legislate that way here in the United States. Do we?

The proposed law is currently before the Italian parliament, where it is expected to die a quick and ignoble death.

(Indirectly via Beppe Grillo by way of Slashdot.)