The investigation started in 2000, when the police learnt that
pornographic images under the titles “Pig Madonna” and “Blasphemy”
were published on the web sites. The five web sites were created in
Rome and hosted by US-based ISPs.
The police raided the premises in Rome from which the content
had been uploaded. The illegal material has now been replaced by
the crest of the special police unit involved.
A spokesman for Italian police said:
“We blocked out these sites because they
tied a festival of blasphemy with distasteful sexual images in
which they mixed the name of God, the name of the Madonna, with
religious cursing. But this wasn’t enough, they then went on to
showing a nun in suggestive clothes or other things in poor
taste.”
A man was arrested in Rome, however it is not yet clear what the
charges against him might be. Cursing has been decriminalised in
Italy, but publishing or broadcasting blasphemous material can
still be prosecuted.
It is not the first time that European authorities have
attempted to block illegal material posted on web sites hosted in
other countries.
A French court ordered Yahoo! to ban the sale of Nazi
memorabilia on its US web site – that case is ongoing in both the
US and France. Also, the German authorities have decided that
racist material posted on web sites targeting German audiences
should be prosecuted under the country’s law.
