TECHNOLOGY, Italian Firm Takes on Skype Deal in a David-Goliath Battle

A complaint by a small Italian firm to the European Commission could derail Microsoft's acquisition of Skype.
Messagenet, based in Milan, has written to the Commission to warn it about the probable antitrust ramifications arising from the merger of Skype and Microsoft. As a result, the Commission may demand the unbundling of Skype from Microsoft's dominant Windows Office suite before approving the proposed deal.
Microsoft's US$8.5 billion acquisition of Skype is its biggest ever and would allow the company's new Windows phones to compete directly with Google and Apple smartphones.
But Messagenet owner Andrea M. Galli, claims the deal would increase Skype's dominant position in the market of Internet-based telephony and video-telephony and fears that "the primary effect of the merger will be to exclude potential competitors from the market." Skype currently has around 124 million regular users. Messagenet, which offers Internet fax, SMS messaging and VoIP services, has around 390,000 registered users.
Besides urging the Commission to make unbundling Skype from Windows a condition of the merger, Messagenet wants the European competition authorities to force Skype to make its phone services interoperable with other Internet phone providers. Galli told the Italian press that he had asked for the coding information required to do so, but that Skype had not responded.
To date the Commission has looked critically at any alleged "tying" of Microsoft products, particularly Windows applications, but would not comment further on this case. Spokeswoman Amelia Torres said, however, that the committee will consider all the letters received in relation to the deal.
The merger is due to go ahead next Wednesday, but the Commission still has the power of veto. The deal was approved by U.S. authorities in June.
Follow Jennifer on Twitter at @BrusselsGeek or email tips and comments to jennifer_baker@idg.com.

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TECHNOLOGY, Italian Internet Activists Protest Proposed Law

Italy's Internet activists gathered in front of Rome's ancient Pantheon Thursday to protest a new law they say will throttle freedom of expression on the Web.
The new rule, due to be presented in parliament next week as part of a bill to restrict the use and publication of telephone wiretaps, would oblige all online publications to publish a correction within 48 hours of receiving a request or risk a €12,000 (US $16,000) fine.
Critics say the law would have a particularly devastating effect on citizen bloggers and is intended to protect the interests of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose image has been severely battered by the publication of police telephone taps that have cast an embarrassing light on his unorthodox private life.
Luca Nicotra, secretary of the activist association Agora Digitale, said his organization was calling on all lawmakers to support amendments to the bill that would limit its effects to professional news organizations only.
"A newspaper has the ability to respond to requests that may be illegitimate. The ordinary citizen does not," Nicotra told a crowd of around 100 people gathered in front of the massive Roman temple, which dates from the second century AD.
"It's easy to imagine this instrument being used in an intimidating way," said a leaflet distributed by Agora Digitale at the rally. "Any citizen writing on the web, who doesn't have a newspaper's legal department to defend him, will be induced to accept requests for corrections even when convinced that he has written the truth, causing people to censor themselves in order to avoid the risk of a fine."
Giuseppe Giulietti, an opposition lawmaker and founder of Articolo 21 (www.articolo21.org), an association dedicated to the defense of journalistic freedom, said he would appeal against the law to the European Court of Human Rights if it was passed in its present form by the Italian parliament.
Opponents of the law were setting up a committee of media law specialists to assist bloggers and anyone else who ran into difficulty because of it, Giulietti said. "If there is a democratic emergency we will be present to support you, wherever you are," he said.
Articolo 21 encouraged journalists to take an oath of professional honor pledging to remain faithful to their duty to inform, despite the new legislation. "I swear that ... I will provide any information that is in the public interest and of social importance, " the pledge states in part.
Antonio D'Amati, a media law specialist, encouraged bloggers and journalists to ignore the new rule. "I don't think I'm committing a crime when I tell journalists that they must take no notice of this future law. No one can be convicted for having done their journalistic duty," D'Amati told the protesters, some wearing sticky notes over their mouths bearing the words "No gag."
In an interview with the magazine www.micromega.it, the former president of the Privacy Authority, Stefano Rodota, said the new rule was doubly dangerous for bloggers: The size of the fine was enough to wipe out most normal bloggers and many were liable to miss the 48-hour deadline because they did not update their blogs on a regular basis.
"It's also unsatisfactory that this request for a correction makes no mention of the reality of the facts (shouldn't there be a prior investigation into the accuracy or otherwise of the correction?)," Rodota said.
Antonio Leone, a lawmaker who supports the government, defended the new law, saying it was less severe than a previous bill promoted by the opposition.
"Talking about a 'gagging law' and organizing protest rallies in Rome is a sign that some people want to continue to wallow in gossip, used as a weapon of political struggle," Leone said. "That's a mortal blow to civilization, to democracy and to the right of every individual to privacy."

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