Copyright: The italian SOPA

NO ITALY – However, Italian users, explains digital lawyer Fulvio Sarzana, "will probably never have a chance to download the program." Sarzana refers to the Agcom regulation for the protection of online copyright, which, after its controversial approval last December, will come into force on March 31st. Article 9 of the regulation provides for the IP or DNS blocking of both sites containing pirated material and those that encourage the practice, subject to notification by copyright holders. "The program will have to be downloaded from a portal that Italian citizens will not be able to access, since Pirate Bay has already been targeted by the authorities." Furthermore, "sites that explain how to circumvent the blocks using, for example, Google's DNS or OpenDNS could also suffer the same fate," again as they promote piracy. The associations Altroconsumo, Assoprovider, Assonet, and Movimento di Difesa per il cittadino will appeal the regulation to the Regional Administrative Court (TAR) in the coming weeks. They are not opposing the desire to curb piracy, but the content of a text that has not yet been passed by Parliament, which is expected to provide a legislative stance for a sector that has changed profoundly since the last copyright law, dated 1941. Another aspect that raises concerns is the lack of judicial intervention in the process, which can lead to the blocking or shutdown of a website.