Best VPNs for Italy

Italy is one of the most picturesque countries and its history is so rich, architecture is pretty amazing. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to keep an eye on your privacy there. Actually, it is within Top 20 for Internet interfering. And one should bear in mind that it is better to prevent cyber attacks than to cope with the problems provided in such cases.

Look at our top-rated VPN providers that will help you to avoid troubles while surfing the Net:

1. ExpressVPN: is a perfect choice for Italy as it’s super-fast and secure.
2. NordVPN: provides its customers with easy-to-use apps and 24/7 support.
3. Surfshark: will allow you to unblock restricted websites in Italy safely.
4. CyberGhost VPN: uses robust protocols and military-grade encryption.
5. Private Internet Access: is cross-platform software available on all popular platforms.

Italy may be a country committed to the free speech values of the European Union, but advocacy groups have found that the famous wine-making country selectively filters access to certain websites. Wikileaks reported in 2009 that Italy has banned close to 300 sites.

Though the Italian government claimed the sites were blocked to fight CP, Wikileaks countered saying that censorship was based on “a secret, unaccountable list of site names”. For internet users in Italy, this means a serious lack of access to certain sites that do not contain any criminal material.

Freedom of speech In Italy

Italy has so far allowed citizens to access most content available over the internet. However, things are rapidly changing. Not too long ago, the Italian government passed a set of internet censorship rules called the Levi-Prodi law.

Those laws strengthened the powers of the country’s internet regulator, AgCom. Under the new laws, AgCom has wide-ranging powers to take down sites that may violate copyright laws in the eyes of the bureaucrats.

If AgCom finds a "serious violation of the economic exploitation of the rights of a digital work”, it can take down a site in less than a fortnight. Critics have pointed out that the process is unfair, given the AgCom lacks copyright law specialists, and that it ultimately leads to a violation of freedom of expression for everyday Italians.

The abuse of user rights is pretty infrequent in Italy. Reporters on the Internet and users of social networks should be careful in speaking out because of the legislation about criminal defamation in this country. Especially, it is disputable dealing with the online sphere.

The period ISPs must keep users’ metadata has become longer (from 1 to 2 years) since April 2015, though Europe’s high court criticized those actions. The law is considered to be the way of interfering with people’s private life. But at the same time, it is for preventing terrorism.

VPN for Italy to bypass censorship

Notwithstanding the fact that Italy does NOT impose restrictions on social media or news websites use, there are some cases of restrictions concerned with a lack of facility to visit web services.

Wikipedia censorship in Italy

In 2001 administration of the Italian department of Wikipedia blocked access to the website, as the step of protest against the government's bill that was under discussion.

According to this new law, the administration of the website had to change the content of the articles within 48 hours in case Wikipedia pages contain deceitful information.

These measures were estimated as direct censorship imposed on Italian Wikipedia without court permission. Website administration commented this situation saying that it would destroy basic principles of Wikipedia:

Still there always was a chance, using a VPN in Italy, open the website changing an Italian IP address into another one.

TV censorship in Italy

As it is widely believed, the Italian television industry is politicized both inside and outside the country. According to the statistics, Italy has only 24% of TV news trusted programs, while, for instance, Britain has 38% out of this. This makes Italy only one of those examined countries, where online resources considered to be more reliable to get information than television ones.

Italians can face the situation when movies or cartoons are changed while broadcasted nationally. Although the whole situation shows that information taken from the Internet is more truthful, still it frequently happens that such data are inaccessible while browsing with Italian IP. In this regard, it is recommended to use a VPN for Italy to bypass such restrictions and find out true news.

Content restrictions for Italian IP

As it is mentioned above, the Italian government tends to restrict access to some websites, as they are stated to bring harm and danger to their users.

What websites undergo blocking in Italy?

As a rule, the services are blacklisted in Italy in case they contain:

• materials with a political coloring;
• texts criticizing the activity of any organization;
• data that breach copyright law;
• 18+ content;
• texts rising the theme of violations of rights and corruption;
• ads propagating the sale of drugs;
• social dangerous information;
• texts covering the idea of national security;
• content that contradicts economic interests.

The arguments presented, explain why Italy takes the 52^nd position in the “Reporters Without Borders” ranking.

Censorship leaves nothing but a necessity to acquire a VPN provider for Italy in order to get freedom in internet space.

Laws on Internet Rights

According to the Constitution of Italy, there is freedom of speaking out and mass media, as well as the privacy of correspondence. But some civil laws are not always interpreted consistently. And sometimes it forms ambiguous situations when judges deliver a different judgment on almost the same cases linked with Internet freedom. That is why advocates dealing with the following matters concentrated on proposing legal improvements to strengthen protection.

As a result of it in July 2015 ‘’Declaration of Internet Rights”, which is of non-regulatory principles, was released. It has been the first European country that released such a declaration. It defends the right to Internet access, privacy, net neutrality, and anonymity. However, not all the observers were satisfied with it as they believed that it was failed to protect free speaking out, copyright, and protection of encryption.

To some extent, certain acts bring some danger to freedom on the net in Italy. In April 2015 an antiterrorism law was ordained and it extended the criminal code terrorist recruitment. Some critics are concerned that it will be applied in many cases and sanctions will be applied to the rightful examples of free speaking out which is provided with international norms. Fortunately, enforcement agencies will not be able to remotely interfere in personal computers.

What about Scrutiny, Privacy, and Anonymity in Italy?

Coming to Italy as a tourist one is to take into consideration some facts that may seem to be a norm for the local citizens. You might be wondering:

Monitoring in Italy is habitual

If you are in Italy, don’t worry about surveillance of your private phone conversations or chats on the net, because it is allowed to monitor private communications only if there is a warrant. Technical tracking is not widely-spread in the country.

NB: ISPs are obliged to keep data, for example, broadband internet info, net telephony, internet usage via mobile phone, and email activity. The data can be revealed just if there is a response from a judge or lawyer. Law enforcement agencies can ask for access to the data in case of criminal investigations. IPs turn to third-party services to encrypt and stock the data. (As it was mentioned above, they must retain the data up to 24 months).

Data on Italian netizens are stored

In addition, Italy’s expanded anti-terrorism laws allow the government to collect and store metadata of internet users. It’s highly unlikely that the digital rights of Italian citizens will improve soon. Until they do, users who access the internet from Italy can use a VPN to visit censored sites that are otherwise legitimate, and stream videos seemingly blocked because of copyright violations.

VPNs also allow users to protect their privacy from government spies while online. Read ahead to find out the best VPN service internet users in Italy can rely on for digital freedom:

How to find the best VPN for Italy?

It should be noted that VPN for Italy is an indispensable tool while surfing the Internet. Since it has many positive sides, everyone should get the most suitable VPN provider.

But how?

• First of all, it is necessary to study its characteristics such as the list of servers and their geographical locations, IP types, speed, bandwidth, additional features like automatic kill switch, and unlimited server switching.
• After one has found a VPN that allows accomplishing all desired activities on the Internet in Italy, it is necessary to check if it is compatible with the device.
• The next step on unlimited web surfing is the payment procedure. If one desires to be 100% anonymous and protected on the Internet, it is better to opt for payment with Bitcoin.

Besides, all the VPN features are relevant for such a country as Italy, and for many other countries that suffer from censorship as well.

Free VPN in Italy: does it really work?

Virtual Private Networks are usually used for such proposes as secrecy, security, and safety оn the Internet. They hide the information about user location and guarantee the protection against pirates and spies, as the IP address is decoded and cannot be seen.

VPN also allows watching streaming videos and movies that are prohibited in Italy. However, not all VPN providers are equally efficient.

Is it worth using a free VPN for Italy?

It should be mentioned that one can choose either a free or paid VPN provider. In this regard, some crucial points are to be taken into account:

• Paid VPNs provide their subscribers with security and anonymity of high quality when free VPNs barely make them safe online.
• Another difference is in service quality. Free VPN providers often lack professional live chat support service.
• There are cases when free VPN recorded browser history and sold it to advertisers. Paid VPN guaranties your privacy while surfing the internet and follow no-logging policy.
• Paid VPN provider ensures stable connection, unlike free VPN that has an overwhelming flood of users. Thus, the connection can be lost while speed – reduced.
• An unlimited number of servers in various countries around the globe are at users’ disposal in case they have opted for paid VPN services for Italy.

These facts seem to confirm the idea that it is better not to entrust security to free VPNs in Italy.

Conclusion

As is described in the article, censorship in Italy is getting quite rough with totalitarian methods of controlling the television, mass media, and the Internet. Thus, acute need occurs to use other means to receive all the necessary information.

VPN for Italy is definitely a good idea, as it helps to disguise you inside the internet world and get the materials you want to possess. As it was mentioned above, a VPN has so many advantages, as it…

…provides you with safety and secrecy.

…gives you anonymity on the Internet.

…conceals the data about your present location.

…protects you against pirates and spies, even when using WI-FI in public places.

…hides your real IP address and gives you a new one.

…decodes all the information about your internet behavior;

…gives the ability to watch streaming videos and movies that may be not allowed in your country.

There is a choice between free VPN and paid VPN providers. As it was described above, they differ a lot in:

• secrecy degree;
• services quality;
• privacy guarantee;
• access stability;
• country diversity.

Thus, we can obviously make the conclusion that VPN is irreplaceable in today’s computerized world with the appearance of various spy and pirate systems.  And it is up to everybody to decide which provider to get.