NB: This is guest post by Daniele Beccari, vice president at Isango and a technology consultant.
Italian authorities are getting hot under the collar over a mobile travel application which draws attention to the country's famous criminal fraternity.
Italian Minister for Tourism, Michela Brambilla, says it is considering taking action against Apple and Belarus-based development shop Apalon for the sale of "offensive and unacceptable content" embedded in the What Country travel app.
The app's own description is:
"Light-hearted and funny view of the world. This is not a travel guide and should not be taken too seriously."
Italy is labelled with the keywords "pizza, mafia, pasta, scooters". Explanatory notes and pictures explaining the keyword "mafia" show a parking sign stating "Mafia parking only - all others will be dealt with" (in English, a common Photoshopped fake), and claim that Mafia's activities represent 10% of the country's GDP.
Early this week, the Italian Anti-Counterfeiting Office raised the app with the Anti-Mafia Committee led by opposition representative Laura Garavini.
One of the soft goals of the Anti-Mafia Commitee is to fight against the golden aura of criminal organisations often celebrated in movies and the media.
Similar actions have taken place against violent video games such as Mafia 2.
Yesterday (September 28) Brambilla asked Apple to remove the app from the AppStore and claimed to have instructed state lawyers to take legal action against the responsible parties.
The twist here is that Apple is considered responsible to have taken the decision to sell the app.
In other words, the ability to decide which app can or cannot be sold on the AppStore is being interpreted as an active involvement in the content publication, and therefore supposedly exposing Apple to liability.
NB: This is guest post by Daniele Beccari, vice president at Isango and a technology consultant.