Bugging legislation threatens Italian democracy

The Italian senate on Thursday approved the controversial bugging law on first reading. The legislation is aimed at restricting bugging operations for investigational purposes and banning their publication in the media. The conservative online magazine Farefuturo concedes that the government has relaxed its "gag law" but says it nevertheless still encroaches on the democratic future of the country: "You get the unpleasant feeling that this is just a cover. … It may sound exaggerated to see the law as a dividing line between dictatorship and democracy, but it could have been a lot better. It could have prevented the escalating practice of bugging without restricting press freedom. The list of 'could haves' is long. Given the circumstances they've done the best they could. Perhaps. But that perhaps weighs like a rock on Italian politics and threatens to destroy it."

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