Italian blogs are ... newspapers??? No kidding...

An Italian judge has used a 1948 law to convict a local historian and author of the crime of “stampa clandestina”. This is basically the crime of running a newspaper without first officially registering with the local authorities. But by convicting him, the judge has also opened the door to a much bigger Pandora’s Box.

What was this newspaper that Carlo Ruta was running? His blog. The judge ruled that since his blog had a headline, that qualified it as a newspaper and since he hadn’t registered it, he was guilty of “stampa clandestina”. Simple. Guilty as charged. He was fined and told to take down his blog. Next case.

Ruta simply took down the blog and put up a new one. But now he is a convicted criminal and he has lost all his original blog material which is obviously a big deal. More...

See also:

• Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin detained for two years...
• Moroccan blogger jailed for criticizing the king...
• African bloggers defy the State...
• Blogger arrests hit record high...
• John McCain: I hate the bloggers!!!