Italian Senate To Take Up Legislation Blocking Adult Sites

LOS ANGELES—The Italian Senate is set to take up new legislation to block all online porn sites in the country, requiring internet users to specifically request that the porn blocks be removed, according to reports in the Italian media. The proposed new law was introduced by Senator Simone Pillon, a member of Italy’s ultra-nationalist Northern League party, led by former Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. The law would require all makers of internet-connected devices, including computers, cell phones, and smart TVs, to install software that would automatically block all porn sites. Users would have to file a specific request to remove the software in order to view porn online, under the proposed law. “I hope that in this way the many children who now have daily Internet access will be made safe,” Pillon said in introducing the bill, adding that he considered the legislation, “a small gift from the big family of the League to moms and dads.” The proposal drew an immediate response from Italian porn performer Valentina Nappi, who said that she may now enter politics herself, in order to stop the porn ban law. If she followed through on her threat, Nappi would not be the first porn performer to enter Italian politics. In 1987, Hungarian-born performer Cicciolina was elected to Italy’s Chamber of Deputies — the other house of the country’s bicameral parliament. Cicciolina served one term in the Chamber, failing to win reelection in 1991. She ran again in 1992, but lost, and then ran for mayor of Rome in 1993, again coming up short. Nappi has previously spoken out publicly against Salvini, once declaring, “If he’s a Christian, then I’m a virgin.” Whether the League’s porn blocking proposal has a chance of success in Italy’s parliament remains unclear, but it follows numerous attempts at similar legislation around the world, which have met with varying degrees of success. India, China, South Korea, Nepal and other Asian countries have managed to impose online porn bans.  But last year, the United Kingdom finally gave up on a law that passed in 2017 that would have required porn users to verify that they were at least 18 years old before accessing sites. Despite the U.K. fiasco, legislators in Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand have all proposed bans or blocks against online porn. Photo by Wikimedia Commons Public Domain