Truth be told, I'm a bit disappointed with HN comments on this one. Most (and the most voted) are the very predictable "they're so stupid, how can they do that". Maybe they are, but I was really hoping for some discussion on why.
Anyways, AFAIK (and it's not much) Berlusconi right now controls/owns a good majority of media companies. Also there are a fair numbers of scandals involving him which aren't reported by the media outlets he owns. Now if Italy is anything like my native Romania, lately the Internet is becoming both a tool and a media for the political life. And we all know the Internet is harder to control, so efforts by the government in this direction could be expected.
I also think Google is not a chance target. A conviction, even a weak one like this, sends a very strong message to the _local_ companies. If Google couldn't win, who can? And I think the Italian language sites were the target from the beginning. If the conviction stands (and maybe even if it doesn't), this will still have a terrible chilling effect on the news sites there. Now they know that no matter how big or insignificant they are, their owners or operators can find themselves in jail at a prosecutor's whim. Because ways of breaking such laws are not hard to find.
Anyways, AFAIK (and it's not much) Berlusconi right now controls/owns a good majority of media companies. Also there are a fair numbers of scandals involving him which aren't reported by the media outlets he owns. Now if Italy is anything like my native Romania, lately the Internet is becoming both a tool and a media for the political life. And we all know the Internet is harder to control, so efforts by the government in this direction could be expected.
I also think Google is not a chance target. A conviction, even a weak one like this, sends a very strong message to the _local_ companies. If Google couldn't win, who can? And I think the Italian language sites were the target from the beginning. If the conviction stands (and maybe even if it doesn't), this will still have a terrible chilling effect on the news sites there. Now they know that no matter how big or insignificant they are, their owners or operators can find themselves in jail at a prosecutor's whim. Because ways of breaking such laws are not hard to find.