The opposition is up in arms about the proposal of the Justice Minister, Angelino Alfano, to place restrictions on the use of telephone interceptions by investigating magistrates.
It’s hard to make the case against some limitation, since the number of wiretaps in Italy dwarfs that of other countries. Affari Italiani claims that 80,000 wiretap requests were made and authorised in 2007, with around 125,000 wiretaps ongoing (unfortunately, I can’t find the ministerial data they cite).The equivalent figures for the UK, according to the 2006 report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner (published with considerable delay) are 1,435 requests granted, 797 interceptions ongoing at the end of year.
Additionally, the proposal to restrict wiretaps to crimes involving terrorism or the mafia is, while somewhat restrictive, not too far from current restrictions in the UK, where the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act restricts wiretaps to ’serious crimes’ (involving violence, a group with a determinate end, or large financial gain, according to section 81 of the Act).
Finally, if it is true that excluding crimes of corruption would seem “a defence of the political caste”, in the words of Roberto Castelli, then the Lega would be shocked by the Wilson Doctrine, which prevents wiretapping of MPs, and which was roundly criticised by theInterception of Communications Commissioner in 2005/6.
All this, of course, is not to say that the proposals ought to be approved as they are. Whilst there is still no text, it is at least in theory possible that restrictions could complicate ongoing trials - involving Berlusconi’s involvement in Saccà’s corruption trial, discussed before. (Though apparently this would be in conflict with the principle of tempus regit actum, or Italian lawyerese for “no retroactivity here, please”).