In many countries there is planned legislation imposing special limits on the freedom of expression online. Italy’s Alfano law equates all blogs to professional journalism, and requires the publishing of “corrections” notified by interested parties, under the penalty of heavy fines.
This law, if passed without any modification, will in practice silence free speech on the net in Italy, as special interests will inundate the blogosphere with requests that will be impossible to correctly follow by most of the new voices online.
Politicians tend to feel threatened by the net, and its powers, as it enables citizens to independently express their positions, and form an opinion without resorting to official sources.
The following video summarizes my opinion:
The group Diritto Alla Rete (Right to the Net) connects activists with the same passion for the net.