Confidential leaked document reveal draconian plans by Germany's right-wing CDU party  for 3-strikes and criminal enforcement of copyright, plus a new right to protect newspapers online. 

Germany's Christian Democrat party, of which the Chancellor Angela Merkel is the leader,  has  set out plans to introduce graduated response / 3-strikes measures to support copyright in a pre-election manifesto that has appeared on  Wikileaks. The document also calls for strengthened international cooperation against copyright infringement, and for the German police to get more resources to

Read more: German 3-strikes plans uncovered

A leaked document suggests that Italy  is considering  French-style 3-strikes measures, but they could be more wide-ranging. It also appears that the Italian government is backtracking on a proposal to consult users and consumer organisations.

Last October, the Italian government announced its intention to form a committee to review options for dealing with Internet copyright infringements. At the time, the Minister of Culture, Sandro Bondi, indicated interest in persuing a French-style 3-strikes proposal, but said that all interests, including consumers and users, would be included in a consultation process. Since then, the situation appears to have changed. I have pieced this story together from various media reports and from  contacts in Italy.

It seems that in December, three members of the new committee  -  Comitato tecnico  contro la pirateria digitale e multimediale - were announced. One was from the SIAE, which is the Italian collecting society

Read more: 3-strikes +++ proposed in Italy

According to reports in the Italian media, Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has come up with a proposal to regulate the Internet. He wants to put it to a meeting of the G8 - the club of the world's leading economies -   which he will be chairing from January. The rationale appears to be that the G8 already oversees the financial markets, and the Internet has no regulation. Berlusconi  is also suggesting that Italy could take the lead.

However, it should not be overlooked that Berlusconi owns a large media empire, which is threatened by developments on the Internet. 

Read the reports here:

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