Vittorio Sgarbi lately commented on the fact that everybody was free to show on the Internet any of the programmes in which he participated on television without his authorization. He appealed to the authorities to introduce a law so that copyright on the Internet is regulated just as it is regulated on television.
Those who own a website argue that they cannot be compared to television stations: they are a new concept, an open space and it is open to anyone and everybody is free to add anything to the website. Others like Sgarbi argue that one is free to record a programme for his private use but the moment that this programme is put on the Internet one has to seek the authorization of the author of that programme. It is the same as quoting from a book, Sgardi argues.
This calls for the copyright regime to be extended to the Internet. We are entering a phase where the Internet can be a weapon of instruction and a weapon of self-destruction. People are free to use the photos they take of you on Facebook and on any other Internet sites without your approval, because there is no law that regulates this use. This is bringing a lot of people into trouble and it is not fair for you to be invited to my party and than stay splashing photos of the party on the Internet for the whole world to see.
It is important that the situation is brought under control because this free-for-all attitude is being abused and we will eventually reach a stage when any party organizer would have each of his or her guests sign a declaration that no photos will be printed on the net. The same applies to videos that are put on Youtube and on other Internet sites which most of the time are meant to embarrass rather than impress.
It is the same with blogs. You can cut and paste any photo and information and gossip that you want without any limit. It has now reached a level of mediocrity where these blogs are more synonymous with bitchiness rather than with information. But again, what is there to prohibit you from splashing and baring all on the Internet?
Another aspect of the Internet is e-commerce. Although we have regulation regarding ecommerce, I have yet to understand how the Commissioner of Inland Revenue ensures that the business which is carried out on the Internet is being taxed in Malta. Lately I met two persons whose main job is now trading on the Internet. One told me that he has a website doing delivery of flowers and the other one selling machinery but none of them touch Malta. They work from home and not even the transactions are carried out from a bank of Malta.
I admire these people for being so enterprising and in this day and age this seems to be a new way of making money. We are still harping on those who work without a workbook when the trend is now to stay at home, have a computer and the Internet, and work from the comfort of your home with no fear that you will caught working illegally and reported to the authorities.
Still I do not know how e-commerce is being regulated by our fiscal system and by the customs department, for all that matters. Somebody lately told me that it costs him twice as much to import a musical instrument from the EU as from China. If he gets it from the EU he has to pay VAT; if he imports it from China he gets it cheaper and with no duty. I honestly do not know how the system works and how products from China are not being subject to duty. But this is another example of how the Internet is being used to the detriment of the Customs Department.
Others say that they buy everything from the Internet and this method of doing business is on the increase. The retailers have to face this reality one day or another because more and more people are finding this kind of shopping convenient and good value for money. Imagine a 60-year-old woman I met on a tour last year told me that she buys everything from the Internet including her underwear.
We speak about censorship but on the Internet you can buy sex from the comfort of your home and you can engage in any foul and vulgar language that you wish. Not only that but you can buy a slave and bring her to Malta and the immigration office does not ask you or your wife’s permission when you oblige yourself to support her during her stay in Malta as she is your guest.
Everybody is familiar with e-bay, the online auction site, and according to students you can buy this new drug called “Meow Meow” from e-bay. It’s real name is mephedrone: or ‘4-methylmethcanthinone’ to the pedantic, ‘4-MCAT’ to the hipper of organic chemists. “Meow Meow” is the street name: presumably a kind of pun for the effect when one is actually on the drug. It is a stimulant of the phenethylamine class, meaning it shares a certain kinship with methamphetamine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, aka ecstasy). But unlike ecstasy, it is legal.
Meow Meow produces the same feeling of euphoria, and that is the selling point of this new party drug. Another is the price. It is cheap and even your children can buy a gramme of Mephedrone for around GBP £7 or even less (one gramme equals about five ‘doses’ –enough to kill you).
Unlike cocaine or ecstasy, Mephedrone can be legally delivered directly to your doorstep in Malta via Royal Mail at the fantastic, phenomenal, sensational price of €15 euros! The side effects? Convulsions, breathing problems, nose-bleeds, depression, psychosis and in some cases even death.
Mephedrone is imported from laboratories in China and it is believed to have first entered Britain last year. By aummer it was sweeping through British clubs and parties throughout the country.
Youngsters tell me that it is now sweeping through our Maltese clubs like there’s no tomorrow. But with one difference – in the UK you pay from GPB £11 to £15 for 99.9% purity whereas in Malta the barons are having a blast: selling it at €60 for 0.8 grammes... all perfectly within the law.
But why is it that the authorities are never catalysts?
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