Snowcrashing

SEO And Freedom of Speech – Random Stories From the Republic of Bananas

Posted on 09. Sep, 2009 by Antonella Stellacci in Mobile

August 28- ITALIAN REGULATORS INVESTIGATE GOOGLE

The Plot: Italian Publishers filed a complaint to the equivalent of the Italian FTC claiming that Google is abusing its dominant position on the Internet to deny them a fair share of online advertising revenue.

And how do they back-up their assumption? By saying that, if you as a publisher opt-out of Google News, Google will penalize you with a poor ranking…

That’s not because they are clueless about SEO, right? Let’s see: besides showing that they ignore even the basics, they now pretend that  it is in their right to know and master Google editorial policy, so that they can get more money. Cough… Cough…

As a token of appreciation as an Italian expat, here’s a gift sent to me by Google which I will make public…

There’s more. Hang in there.

July 14 2009- LIMITING BLOGGERS FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Threatened by a proposed piece of restrictive legislation called the Alfano decree, Italian bloggers went on strike in mid-July. The law, proposed by a Berlusconi minister, formally aims at protecting the rights of people and companies who have been defamed online.

In other words, translated in the Italian mentality: bloggers and users are warned…Anyone who feels defamed by a blog post, forum thread or status message on Facebook can request the author to rectify the post within 48 hours. If the author doesn’t comply, a 10.000 euro fine must be paid along with potential civil damages. And that’s just one example of the heavy restrictions that bloggers can incur. We surely don’t need help when it comes to limiting the freedom of speech…

———————————————————————————————————————————————

The Berlusconi Era-– Italy’s Limited Freedom of Press. From Wikipedia:

The Freedom of the Press 2004 Global Survey, an annual study issued by the American organization Freedom House, downgraded Italy’s ranking from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free‘ [107] due to Berlusconi’s influence over RAI, a ranking which, in “Western Europe” was shared only with Turkey (as of 2005).

Tags: Limited Freedom of Speech