Today, Italy became the first European country to introduce an Internet Bill of Rights, which was open to comment by the country’s citizens. Italy follows in the footsteps of Brazil, which passed the world’s first Internet Bill of Rights into law in April 2015 and advised Italy throughout its own process.

Renata Avila, Web We Want campaign manager at the World Wide Web Foundation says:

“Italy is to be commended for taking the lead, and conducting a collaborative, open and crowdsourced effort to draft an Italian Internet Bill of Rights.

“There is a lot to like about this Bill of Rights – it establishes access as a fundamental right, acknowledges the importance of the Internet to democracy, and puts open access to information, knowledge and culture at its heart. Provisions for open government data are also included, while Net Neutrality is not only protected, but seen as a precondition to enjoy other rights.

“However, some doubts also arise. The Bill falls short in protecting anonymity and encryption, while clauses around data retention are unclear.

“Overall, this is a positive development for the protection of fundamental rights online, but further clarity on some clauses, and information on how the Bill will be enforced must be urgently addressed, so it can achieve its full potential.”