A low-budget horror film has caused a stir among politicians in Italy after teenage cinemagoers were traumatised by the movie.

Paranormal Activity, a box-office hit in Italy, has caused terror among youngsters.

An Italian news agency reported that emergency services took dozens of calls, especially in southern Naples, from cinemagoers shocked by the film.

Several panic attacks lasting more than half an hour took place, an emergency response worker said: The most serious case is that of a 14-year-old girl who was brought to the hospital in a state of paralysis.

The Italian parents' association noted that admission to the movie is restricted in the United States, Britain, Germany and The Netherlands and asked for an age limit of 18 in Italy.

Defence minister Ignazio La Russa said: For the past two weeks a trailer has been shown obsessively on TV, and is terrifying thousands of children.

Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the Italian fascist dictator and head of a parliamentary committee on children, said the film had highly distressing content and was causing panic attacks and psychological problems among youths. I don't think we can ban Paranormal Activity now, but surely we need to study how to warn parents of the risks their children are incurring.

See BBFC comments from bbfc.co.uk

The BBFC have passed the UK cinema release 15 uncut with the following comment:

Paranormal Activity is a US horror film that presents as a case history conveyed through hand-held camera footage seemingly filmed by the performers and which relates how a young American couple are threatened by paranormal manifestations in their new house. It was passed 15 for strong language and threat.

At 15, BBFC Guidelines for language state that There may be frequent use of strong language (eg 'fuck'). and this film contains strong language that fits within this guideline and the frequency of which exceeds the 12A/12 rubric.

As for horror, this film's content exceeds the 12A/12 Guideline which states that Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.. This film features frequent strong threat and menace from the opening minutes until the final scene as the couple's camera records offscreen sounds and manifestations that graduate in frequency and intensity to the point where the threat becomes tangible and physical. The film's hand-held camerawork lends the horror and intensity a greater sense of realism and immediacy as the film's power is not reliant on gore or special effects but instead, credibly depicts an unknown force with growing power overwhelming the lives of a young couple in a realistic domestic setting. The lack of sadistic or sexualised elements meant that the film is permissible at 15, but the strength, frequency and sustained nature of the threat and terrorisation meant that it was not allowable at 12A/12.

Paranormal Activity also contains an oblique moderate sex reference to unseen sexual activity, additional mild sex references and mild language.

Italian lawmakers on committees in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies (upper and lower houses of parliament) have requested sweeping changes in a proposed broadcasting law, particularly in the section governing the internet, which had aroused widespread condemnation.

Deputy Communications Minister Paolo Romani, who was responsible for promoting the broadcasting  law, said the government would take rigorous account of the lawmakers' suggestions.

Blogs with amateur videos, online newspapers, search engines and the online versions of magazines are free, and editorial responsibility does not fall on providers who host content generated by others, Alessio Butti, the government lawmaker who drew up the text approved by the Senate committee, told reporters.

The Chamber and Senate Commissions have proposed significant and positive changes to the draft broadcasting law, Marco Pancini, senior European public policy counsel for Google Italy, said in a prepared statement. Under the original draft of the broadcasting law, which the government says enacts a European Union directive, YouTube risked being treated as a conventional television broadcaster, requiring a special licence from the government and assuming editorial responsibility for all material uploaded to its website.

Paolo Nuti, president of the Association of Italian internet Providers (AIIP), said he welcomed the change of heart expressed by the parliamentary committees but pointed out that their recommendations were not binding on the government.

Bloggers were also quick to welcome the government's apparent U-turn. This is a new U-turn made necessary by the incompetence of the geriatric ward that, unfortunately for us, on both sides of the political spectrum, occupies Italy's seats of power, said Andrea Guida, writing on the blog geekissimo.

A proposed Register of Prohibited Internet Pages and Services built censorship controversy among bloggers and internet users in Poland.

The register is supposedly a measure against child pornography and other illegal content. But it is written in such a way that has bloggers fearing for their freedom of expression.

The register's critics suggest the confusing legislation will be overused affecting innocent bloggers and internet users.

The bill which suggests the new register does not state which content will get a webpage on the register and predicts the introduction of a mandatory hindrance in access to pages and services that include illegal content, Finance Ministry spokesperson Magdalena Kobos said, though it remains unclear what kind of hindrance that should be.

The Ministry suggests self-censorship to users who want to keep off the register, though it worded this basic instruction somewhat differently.

Polish PM suggests a rethink

Based on article from blogs.wsj.com

Polish Internet surfers appeared to have won a vital battle against censorship plans of the Polish center-right government when Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote an open letter to the online community saying the Cabinet's plans could be revisited.

The debate comes in response to protests from tens of thousands of Polish surfers who joined groups on community portals speaking out against a government-drafted bill that, if upheld by the Constitutional Tribunal, will create a register of banned websites and services.

The government's plan, adopted by Parliament last year and sent for a constitutional probe by the president, is part of a wider set of radical anti-gambling measures that Tusk ordered in response to a lobbying scandal involving senior members of his party.

Surfers fear freedom of speech may fall victim to the government's crackdown as the bill may tempt the public administration to ban not just gambling sites, but whatever content it disagrees with.

A blogger has agreed a €100,000 settlement after libelling Niall Ó Donnchú a senior civil servant, and his girlfriend Laura Barnes. It is the first time in Ireland that defamatory material on a blog has resulted in a pay-out.

In December 1, 2006, a blogger who styles himself as Ardmayle posted a comment about the couple and the sale of James Joyce manuscripts under the headline Barnes and Noble. Following a legal complaint, he took down the blog and in February 2007 he posted an apology which had been supplied by Donnchú's and Barnes' lawyer, Ivor Fitzpatrick solicitors.

I subsequently discovered that these remarks were inaccurate, Ardmayle said. I unreservedly apologise to both Laura Barnes and Niall Ó Donnchú respect of this post.

However, the pair subsequently issued separate proceedings. It is understood that the €100,000 settlement was agreed shortly before the case was due before the High Court. A full defamation trial before a jury can cost €700,000-€800,000 in legal costs for both parties.

It is understood that the blogger has paid only a small proportion of the €100,000 damages, and was recently made redundant from his job. In addition to the settlement, he must pay his own legal costs.

The case is likely to have a chilling effect on the Irish blogosphere, which generally takes a casual attitude to defamation and people's reputations. The Ardmayle action was settled before a new Defamation Act came into effect on January 1.

Comment: Trouble in the Blog O’Sphere

See also article from blog.indexoncensorship.org by Dr Eoin O’Dell, a Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Law in Trinity College Dublin

There's nothing new in online defamation; the same basic legal principles apply online as they do offline; the medium may change, but the legal consequences of the message remain the same. But the story does raise some interesting legal issues. Mark Coughlan on TheStory.ie pointed out that, before the storm blew up this week, Ardmayle had been little known, to say the least, and he quite rightly queried the actual damage the blog had done to the plaintiff's reputations. UCD law lecturer TJ McIntyre picked up that point:

The level of damages in defamation reflects the extent of publication — i.e. the extent to which the defamatory material was actually read. This is not (despite the best efforts of plaintiffs' lawyers) the same as the extent to which it might have been read. Consequently (leaving aside other factors such as the gravity of the allegations) damages should be greatly reduced where the audience can be shown to be negligible. Potential readability worldwide notwithstanding.

...Read full article

The Dutch Senate has passed laws prohibiting sex with animals and the distribution of materials depicting bestiality.

The voting by the Dutch Upper Chamber passed the bill with a small majority of 39 for and 34 against. The nays were the members of the fractions of Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) CDA and People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, (VVD).

A Dutch source told XBIZ that the opposing parties voted against the bill feeling they were impossible to enforce and would not stem animal abuse, which was a central focus of the legislation: They [the nay voters] think its more a political law based on Dutch standards and values instead of facts.

The new laws will dramatically curtail the revenues of content producers who have relied on the niche for years. The source said, We are busy with some other major animal producers to combine our forces. First to sue the government for millions to compensate for our lost business which was always legal. We have invested much so we have right on some kind of compensation.

But we still have some time to decide. The law is accepted but they are now working on all law conditions. That could take several weeks or even months and until they make it official it will still be legal to operate.

A protest opposing Malta's censorship laws will be organised at City Gate on February 24, with organisers seeking as many people as possible to make their voices heard.

The organising group, Front Kontra ċ-Ċensura, was set up in the wake of a 21-year-old editor of a student newspaper facing Court charges over an article.

The October edition of Realtà featured a short story – Li Tkisser Sewwi by Alex Vella Gera – whose explicit content led the university to remove it from campus and to report its editor, Mark Camilleri, to the police.

The Front includes the Realtà Collective, the newspaper's producers, and a number of other groups, including the youth wings of Alternattiva Demokratika and the Labour Party as well as Unifaun Theatre Productions, whose production of the play Stitching was banned in early 2009.

The group's Facebook page has attracted over 3,000 members and it hopes that it will similarly attract large numbers its upcoming protest.

The group plans to organise a National Protest Against Censorship to attract a larger crowd. Starting at City Gate at 1700h on February 24, the group aims to move down Republic Street to the Palace, where it will present proposals to remove artistic censorship to MPs as they enter the building.

In the meantime, Camilleri is awaiting his arraignment in Court. He faces a possible jail term for distributing obscene or pornographic material and for injuring public morals or decency.

Ofcom has welcomed the formation of a new organisation to shape, coordinate and influence European telecoms regulation.

Called the Body of European Regulations in Electronic Communications (BEREC), it is made up of 27 regulators from the European Union member states. It meets for the first time today in Brussels to elect a Chairman and Vice Chairmen, who will serve a 12 month term. BEREC replaces the European Regulators' Group, with beefed-up powers formalised under European legislation, but remains very clearly a body of independent national regulators.

The formation of BEREC is a major step forward and will improve the consistency and quality of regulation across the EU. BEREC establishes authority in the group of national regulators, working together to the common goal of serving the interests of consumers and the communications sector as a whole, said Ed Richards, Ofcom's Chief Executive.

BEREC also has an important responsibility to act as an authoritative and independent adviser to the Commission and the European Parliament on regulatory matters.

See article from ec.europa.eu

The first meetings of the Board of Regulators of BEREC and the Management Committee of the Office were held in Brussels on 28 January 2010. The 27 heads of the NRAs laid down the cornerstone for the institutional structure that will deliver the results that the legislators intended. They also discussed ways to ensure that the both BEREC and the Office will be operational as soon as possible to respond to the needs of the single market.

Although, the increased participation of BEREC in the new Article 7 procedure and the possibility to give opinions on cross-border disputes will need to wait until May 2011, the date for the transposition of the new framework to be completed, BEREC is able to carry out many tasks without the need to wait so long. BEREC is already able to:

• disseminate best practice, assist NRAs, advise the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, and assist the institutions and the NRAs in their relations with third parties
• deliver opinions on draft recommendations and/or guidelines on the form, content and level of detail to be given in notifications, in accordance with Article 7b of Directive 2002/21/EC (Framework Directive)
• be consulted on draft recommendations on relevant product and service markets, in accordance with Article 15 of the Framework Directive
• deliver opinions on draft decisions on the identification of transnational markets, in accordance with Article 15 of the Framework Directive
• be consulted on draft measures relating to effective access to the emergency call number 112
• be consulted on draft measures relating to the effective implementation of the 116 numbering range
• deliver opinions on draft decisions and recommendations on harmonisation, in accordance with Article 19 of the Framework Directive
• deliver opinions aiming to ensure the development of common rules and requirements for providers of cross-border business services
• provide assistance to NRAs on issues relating to fraud or the misuse of numbering resources within the Community in particular for cross-border services
• monitor and report on the electronic communications sector
• issue reports and provide advice and deliver opinions to the European Parliament and the Council, on any matter regarding electronic communications within its competence.

Around 80,000 have signed a letter to President Lech Kaczynski, asking him to veto a bill which would restrict internet freedoms in Poland.

Head of the Presidential Chancellery, Wladyslaw Stasiak, will meet on Friday with leaders of the movement opposing the bill on internet censorship. The protesters include academics, NGOs, businesspeople, bloggers and journalists.

The bill, drawn up last November, stipulates that all Internet providers would be obliged to block websites with dangerous content. The black list of sites would be managed by the Office of Electronic Communications, the police, intelligence agencies and the Finance Ministry.

Government filtering the Internet can be compared to gagging citizens even before they start to speak. It's something that even George Orwell could not predict in his famous novel, 1984, says the protest letter to the President.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose cabinet came up with the controversial bill, said he wants to talk with the protesters next week.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has proposed new media rules would forbid the sale of pay-per-view pornography and other adult programming during daylight hours, a measure that would hurt revenue at News Corp.'s Sky Italia.

Rupert Murdoch's Italian satellite unit is the country's largest pay-television service and has five pay-per-view channels with adult content during the day and 22 at night. Sky Italia had 45 million euros ($63 million) in sales from porn programming, half of all pay-per-view revenue, according to a report in October in L'Espresso magazine.

Berlusconi is the country's biggest media owner and controls Mediaset, the largest private TV broadcaster and a Sky Italia competitor.

This rule goes against personal freedom, Marco Crispino, chief executive officer of pay-per-view sports and porn broadcaster Conto TV, said in an interview. The Cascina, Italy-based company's porn channel is going rather well, but if they block transmission it would hurt us economically. We made investments, bought broadcast rights, Crispino said.

Undersecretary of Communications Paolo Romani promised to change the regulations, Luca Barbareschi, a lawmaker in Berlusconi's People of Liberty party, said late yesterday in an interview: They need to be changed because they are a folly, Barbareschi, who is also a film star, said. We can't make rules that favor just one person, he said, referring to Berlusconi.

The regulations would lower the number of advertising minutes per hour allowed on pay-TV channels to 12 from 18 by 2012, while Mediaset's free-to-air broadcast channels will be able to increase advertising minutes to 12 from 6 per hour. That would also limit revenue at Sky Italia.

Update: Media regulator criticises censorship bill

27th January 2010. Based on article from google.com

An Italian government decree seeking to regulate video content on television and the Internet drew criticism from the head of Italy's telecommunications regulator, media reports said.

The new regulations, set for approval on February 5, would require satellite TV channels to obscure pornographic content during daytime and may require websites hosting video to seek a licence from the communication ministry.

The pre-emptive authorisation (of web video) ends up being a bureaucratic filter, said Corrado Calabro, head of the telecommunications authority.

The new rules have already incensed opposition and telecoms industry figures.

Former communications minister Paolo Gentiloni, an opposition politician, called it a real scandal, peppered with gifts to Mediaset, the television group owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, by hobbling suppliers of alternative entertainment at a time when Mediaset's audiences are shrinking.

Google, owner of YouTube, has expressed concern over the decree, saying it amounts to censorship and would subject the video-sharing website to the same responsibilities as a television network newscast.

German rock band Rammstein is having more than a bit of difficulty with German censorship authorities over what songs they can and cannot play at a couple of upcoming concerts.

According to The Gauntlet, officials in the German Family Ministry will not permit the group to play any of the songs that had already been specifically blacklisted when they perform at Dortmund's Westphalia Hall.

In addition, the government agency is asking that each member of the group sign a written explanation before the concerts that the indexed songs are not played.

If Rammstein decides to call the ministry's bluff, they could face a fine of up to 10,000 €. In accordance with the country's Youth Protection Act, any fans under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian of a person to attend the concert. Fans without a parent or guardian in attendance will be sent home.

The concerts, part of the band's promotional tour for their album Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da, are both sold out, and organizers are expecting well over 10,000 fans to show up

New rules to be introduced by government decree will require people who upload videos onto the Internet to obtain authorization from the Communications Ministry similar to that required by television broadcasters, drastically reducing freedom to communicate over the Web, opposition lawmakers have warned.

The decree is ostensibly an enactment of a European Union (EU) directive on product placement and is due to go into effect at the end of January after being subjected to a nonbinding appraisal by parliament.

Opposition lawmakers held a press conference in parliament to denounce the new rules -- which require government authorization for the uploading of videos, give individuals who claim to have been defamed a right of reply and prevent the replay of copyright material -- as a threat to freedom of expression.

The decree subjects the transmission of images on the Web to rules typical of television and requires prior ministerial authorization, with an incredible limitation on the way the Internet currently functions, opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Paolo Gentiloni told the press conference.

Article 4 of the decree specifies that the dissemination over the Internet of moving pictures, whether or not accompanied by sound, requires ministerial authorization. Critics say it will therefore apply to the Web sites of newspapers, to IPTV and to mobile TV, obliging them to take on the same status as television broadcasters.

Italy joins the club of the censors, together with China, Iran and North Korea, said Gentiloni's party colleague Vincenzo Vita.

The decree was also condemned by Articolo 21, an organization dedicated to the defense of freedom of speech as enshrined in article 21 of the Italian constitution. The group said the measures resembled an earlier government attempt to crack down on bloggers by imposing on them the same obligations and responsibilities as newspapers.

The group launched an appeal Friday entitled Hands Off the Net, saying the restrictive measures would mark the end of freedom of expression on the Web. The restrictions would prevent the recounting of the life of the Italians in moving pictures on the Internet, it said.

Update: National strike

19th January 2010. Based on article from variety.com

Google has announced it will counter regulations being drafted by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government that would police content on Google-owned YouTube.

The Internet measures are contained in a radical package of TV legislation now being pushed through parliament. The sweeping bills are also drawing fire from TV and film industry workers, who have called a national strike today to protest against other aspects of the package, including the elimination of quotas that support local indie productions.

Google's European public policy counsel, Marco Pancini, has requested an urgent meeting with Paolo Romani, the communications undersecretary who drafted the decree designed to give the government control over video content uploaded onto the Internet, similar to the authority it already has over broadcasters.

We are concerned over the fact that Internet service providers, like YouTube, that simply make content available to the general public, are being bundled together with traditional television networks that actually manage content, Pancini told paper La Stampa. It amounts to destroying the entire Internet system.

Spain has stepped up its fight against what the government sees as forces that push girls into anorexia or bulimia, with the introduction of a law banning so-called cult of the body advertising on television before the Spanish watershed.

Sellers of plastic surgery, slimming products and some beauty treatments will be prevented from advertising before 10pm.

The ban is extended to other advertisers who transmit a message to children that what matters most is how they look, or that their chances of success are linked to the type of body they have. The ban comes in a new broadcasting law that has been approved by the lower chamber of parliament and is being reviewed by the upper house.

It states: Broadcasters cannot carry advertisements for things that encourage the cult of the body and have a negative impact on self-image – such as slimming products, surgical procedures and beauty treatments – which are based on ideas of social rejection as a result of one's physical image or that success is dependent on factors such as weight or looks.

The beauty and hygiene sector is the third biggest spender on TV advertising in Spain – it spent about €500m in 2008. That year, TV stations broadcast 7,000 advertisements for dieting products and special treatments for slimming, cellulitis or other body worship products, as they are known in Spain. A further 55,000 advertising slots went to beauty products.

Animal support organisation Dyrenes Venner (Friends of the Animals) is campaigning for bestiality to be outlawed in Denmark.

The organisation has placed full page advertisements in tabloid newspapers BT and Ekstra Bladet, as well as Christian newspaper Kristeligt Dagbladet, calling on people to sign a petition in favour of a ban. The organisation said the introduction of such legislation would send a strong ethical signal to society.

In addition to a ban on sex with animals, Dyrenes Venner also wants to see the legislation cover animal pornography, animal sex shows and animal brothels.

Almost 3000 people have signed the petition in the last week and campaigners hope to attract 100,000 signatures in total.

Animal welfare spokesperson for the Danish People's Party Malene Harps? has previously tabled a proposal to ban animal sex, but was unable to secure a parliamentary majority for it. She supports the latest campaign.

La Cour de Cassation in France, or the country's Supreme court, has overturned a decision made by an industrial tribunal and an appeals courts which had both upheld the dismissal of an employee who downloaded pornographic images at work.

The case dates back to 2002, when a worker at the carmaker Peugeot Citron in the western city of Rennes was fired after pornographic images he had downloaded were discovered on computer at work.

He took his case to an industrial tribunal and to the Court of Appeal in Rennes, but in both instances the ruling went in favour of the employer.

His last chance was la Cour de Cassation which, it has been revealed, last month ruled in his favour.

It accepted his arguments that the employer had no right to access what were private and personal files and that saving images on his computer had in no way had an impact on his ability to do his job.

The saving of three files containing pornographic pictures, which were not criminal in nature, did not constitute grounds that would justify dismissal, the Court ruled, adding that the outcome of the case would have been different had the images been unlawful such as ones of a paedophiliac nature.

In effect the ruling found that the employee had been unfairly fired and the case has been referred the matter back to the appeals court to determine how much compensation he is now entitled to.

Some Italian parents are giving a big thumbs down to Avatar, the second highest grossing movie of all time.

The MPAA gave Avatar a PG-13 rating for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking.

When Avatar begins playing in 910 Italian theaters, it'll do so without restriction.

As reported by Variety, the organization at the center of the debacle is Mogie. They claim, the decision represents a discrimination against the protection of Italian children.

In the UK, the cinema release was rated 12A (under 12s allowed if accompanied by an adult). The BBFC explained their decision:

Avatar is a 3D science fiction action adventure film about a man whose genetically engineered human-alien hybrid has been grown on a planet and is intended to persuade the indigenous population to relocate and allow the human military to drill for valuable minerals. It was passed 12A for moderate violence and intense battle scenes.

At 12A, violence guidelines state that Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. This film contains some battle scenes where characters are killed or injured and which show arrows piercing bodies, fight scenes where characters are occasionally heavily kicked or punched, and a fight scene between a man wearing a large metal body armour suit and repeatedly stabbing a fantastical creature. However, these scenes do not generally feature gory images, lack stronger detail and do not emphasise injuries or blood as blows or points of impact are generally impressionistic or occur offscreen, so these scenes are allowable at 12A but exceeded PG allowances.

As for the intense battle scenes, PG guidelines note that Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor. The occasional intense battle scenes towards the end of the film are prolonged and intense and include scenes where the heroic characters are attacked or threatened. Although the context is clearly fantastical, it does not mitigate against the aggressive tone and overall impact which may disturb a child aged around eight or older, so these scenes are not allowable at PG although such scenes are not frequent and are not the sort of sustained disturbing sequences that would exceed the 12A horror guideline.

Avatar also contains some moderate and mild language; occasional scenes showing an older character smoking, which is not promotional or glamorous; a mild and oblique verbal drug reference and a very mild sex reference when a female character states that she and a male character are mated.

 

Maltese laws related to freedom of expression need to be updated to reflect 21st century reality according to a draft National Cultural Policy to be launched in the first week of February.

A spokesman for the Culture Ministry told The Sunday Times the draft policy had been approved by Cabinet and included the recommendation that the ministry should start a process of updating Maltese legislation.

The news comes just two days after police confirmed they will be charging a 21-year-old history postgraduate, who is also editor of student publication Realta with offences connected with distributing obscene or pornographic material after he published a graphic short story containing sexual violence. Mark Camilleri could face a prison sentence if convicted.

Camilleri said he never expected so much hassle when he chose to publish the first-person narrative about sexual violence. He said the University authorities acted irresponsibly and hypocritically, and when he tried to contact them to discuss the issue, he was always ignored: They are meant to be working in the students' interest, but instead they are doing a disservice to students. They didn't even have the decency to meet us.

The University rector banned the newspaper Ir-Realta and reported the case to the police after it carried an article in Maltese written by Alex Vella Gera. Dr Lauri said: We are not passing judgment. But since there was a possibility he broke regulations, it was our duty to inform the police. If it emerges that he didn't break the law, then we are fine.

Camilleri's case has already been taken up in solidarity by lawyers Alex Sciberras and Lara Dimitrijevic. If they lose the case, they are prepared to take it to the European Court of Human Rights.