document: The network society as seen from Italy Italy was behind the European average in Internet development for many years , but a new trend , which has brought considerable change , emerged at the end of 1998 and showed its effects in 2000 and the following years . Now Italy is one of the top ten countries worldwide in Internet hostcount and the fourth largest in Europe . The density of Internet activity in Italy in proportion to the population is still below the average in the European Union , but is growing faster than Germany , the UK and France , and faster than the worldwide or European average . From the point of view of media control there are several problems . Italy has democratic institutions and freedom of speech , but there is an alarming concentration in the control of mainstream media -LRB- especially broadcast -RRB- . There are no officially declared restrictions in the use of the Internet , but several legal and regulatory decisions reveal a desire to limit freedom of opinion and dialogue and/or gain centralized control of the Net
doc_bio_tags: O B I O O O B B O O O B I O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B O O O O B I O B O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O B O O B O B O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O B I O O O O O B O B I O B I I O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O O O O O O O O O O B I O O O
extractive_keyphrases: network society italy european average internet development internet hostcount europe internet activity european union germany uk france media control democratic institutions freedom of speech mainstream media regulatory decisions centralized control
abstractive_keyphrases: worldwide average broadcast media legal decisions