ITALY 2026: WHERE SURVEILLANCE REPLACES KNOWLEDGE

 

The Fourteen-Year-Old Paradox

Imagine a fourteen-year-old in Italy. By law, they can engage in consensual sexual acts, yet the State prevents them from accessing information. They are "old enough" for the act, but "too young" for the knowledge. This is the paradox of a country that has chosen sexophobia disguised as child protection, where digital monitoring has usurped the role of education.

Information vs. Education: The Radical Lesson

In the House, we don’t choose our words by chance. Following the radical teachings of Marco Pannella, we speak of Sexual Information. "Education" carries a paternalistic, moralizing, almost therapeutic weight. "Information," however, is liberty: providing biological facts, notions of consent, and health data so that the individual—not the State—can make autonomous choices. The current government has instead chosen the path of surveillance.

AGCOM’s "Security Theater"

Since November 12, 2025, accessing adult websites in Italy requires digital identity verification. This is what security expert Bruce Schneier calls Security Theater: a performance that provides the illusion of protection while creating real dangers.

1. Sensitive Data: Citizens are handing over the map of their private desires to the State or third parties.

2. The Prohibitionist Effect: As seen in the UK, youth don't stop watching; they migrate to the Dark Web or unmoderated sites, exposing themselves to malware and truly illegal content.

3. Technological Solutionism: The dangerous belief that an algorithm can replace parental responsibility and open dialogue.

The Valditara Decree and State-Sponsored Illiteracy

While AGCOM builds digital walls, the Ministry of Education builds cultural ones. By granting families a "veto right" over sexual information in schools, the government is sentencing thousands of students to "affective illiteracy." The tragedy is clear: students living in violent or high-conflict homes—where jealousy is mistaken for love—will be the first to be denied access to school programs focused on respect and consent.

The Totalitarian Drift of "Care"

As Hannah Arendt observed in The Origins of Totalitarianism, when the State begins to view citizens as a "flock to be shepherded," liberty is nearing its end. Treating the youth as objects to be managed rather than subjects to be informed is the root of illiberal thought.

A Liberal Alternative: Responsibility and Freedom

The House stands for a radical alternative:

• Schools that transmit knowledge, not behavioral therapy.

• Comprehensive sexual information as a primary tool against violence.

• The end of digital surveillance in the name of true media literacy.

Sexuality is a natural part of life. Denying it doesn't make it less dangerous; it only makes it darker. We choose the light of information over the darkness of control.