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| Regulatory restrictions to the growth of wi-fi networks have been waived |
The Italian Government just passed a decree clarifying that the access to Wi-Fi networks is free and does not require the collection of the users’ details but only to ensure that the MAC address of the device is traced.
Following the terroristic attack in London in 2005, stringent measures had been adopted requiring among others the collection of the details and of the copy of the IDs of those connecting to Wi-Fi networks. Such measures have been blamed for the delay in the development of free Wi-Fi networks in Italy and in 2010 have been repealed.
However, the new decree from the Government has clarified that no identification obligation is on bars, restaurants, hotels offering Wi-Fi networks to their guests. Moreover, the same types of entities whose main business is not the offering of the access to the Internet are not requested to obtain any authoritization from the Ministry or the local police for the setting up of such networks.
Finally, the storage of data relating to sessions that are not associated to the identity of the user (whose data shall not be collected anymore) are not deemed to be personal data and therefore data protection obligations are not applicable.
These measures had been partially already covered by the measures of 2010 repealing the 2005 decree but have the benefit of further confirming the free provision of Wi-Fi networks that hopefully will foster their development helping the country to fill in the gap with other western countries in the sector.
If you want more information on the above, feel free to contact me, Giulio Coraggio, also follow me on Twitter and become one of my friends on LinkedIn.
Image courtesy from Flikr by Wesley Fryer
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