I don't think it's an obsession with privacy - on the contrary, I wished Italy took privacy more seriously.
Italy is just a very old and backward country, with many people that simply don't have a clue about what is going on...
Italy is just a very old and backward country, with many people that simply don't have a clue about what is going on...
Italy is neither old (Italy was born as a state in 1861) nor backward. The problem is that our prime minister has a personal interest in shutting down as much as possible the web as a news/social service.
It is possible to argue that, as you said, "many people don't have a clue what is going on" but I believe it applies to most (all?) other countries as well.
And yes, old. The President of the Republic is 84, the Prime Minister is 73...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_median_age
Of course old doesn't necessarily mean bad. Japan, Germany, and Austria are all up there too and seem to be doing better than Italy.