Italy's leaders barely understand word processors, let alone the web. Now they've turned against the country's bloggers

By G8 standards, Italy is a strange country. Put simply, it is a nation of octogenarian lawmakers elected by 70-year-old pensioners. Everyone else is inconsequential.

Romano Prodi, the Prime Minister, is a spry 68, knocking off 71-year-old Silvio Berlusconi in last year’s election. President Giorgio Napolitano, 82, has six more years left on his term; his predecessor was 86 when he called it quits. In the unlikely event that Italy declares war, the decision will come from a head of state who was a month shy of 20 when the Germans surrendered at the end of the Second World War.

This creaky perspective is a necessary introduction to any discussion about Italian politics with outsiders, I find. If the Italian Government seems unable to adapt to the modern world, the explanation is quite simple. Your country would operate like this too if your grandparents were in charge.

Recently, Italian lawmakers (My comment: mainly Ricardo Franco Levi, born 1949, see photo) once again took aim at modern life, introducing an incredibly broad law that would effectively require all bloggers, and even users of social networks, to register with the state. Even a harmless blog about a favourite football squad or a teenager grousing about life’s unfairness would be subject to government oversight, and even taxation – even if it’s not a commercial website. (Read more on Times Online)

• More about this on www.beppegrillo.it 
• Read an italian article on La Repubblica)

The energetic old Levi isn’t giving up. He has in fact modified article 7: ”Excluded from the obligation to register with ROC are those who use the Internet or who operate on the Internet in forms and with products, like personal websites or websites for collective use that are not for an entrepreneurial work organisation.” www.beppegrillo.it

• Read an article on La Stampa