Publishing, unanimous approval of the Senate to the anti-piracy bill: the illegal dissemination of copyrighted content on the net will be punished

ROME. The Chamber in the Senate unanimously approved the anti-piracy bill in the text transmitted by Montecitorio with 140 votes in favour. The provision has already obtained the go-ahead from the Chamber on 22 March, and is therefore definitively approved. The bill contains measures for the prevention and suppression of the illicit online dissemination of content protected by copyright.

Article 1 contains lists of principles: recognition, protection and promotion of intellectual property in all its forms; copyright protection; also economic support to businesses, authors and artists; accountability of network intermediaries to make the fight against piracy effective; safeguarding the secrecy of communications; implementation of policies to promote freedom of expression and information. The Ddl gives Agcom the power to order service providers to disable access to content disseminated illegally, also by adopting urgent precautionary measures for this purpose. And on this aspect and on that of the sanctions, an agenda of the majority first signed by Claudio Lotito (FI) accepted by the Government during the examination in the Commission, commits the Executive to ‘promptly’ launch a decree law with more stringent measures.

The path of the Odg was chosen to avoid a new passage of the provision in the Chamber. The approved provision also includes communication and awareness campaigns and the introduction of digital citizenship education. Finally, the adjustment of the regulation on the protection of copyright on electronic communication networks and the convening by Agcom and Acn of a technical table with the operators are foreseen. An increase of 10 units of the Agcom organic plant is expected to cope with the new skills.