Italy is near the bottom of the list of European Countries in terms of access to broadband services and therefore also as regards the Internet and the digital economy. A survey conducted by the EU’s Eurostat Institute places Italy on a par with Greece, Bulgaria and Rumania. This proves that economic development and the Internet go hand in hand. Greece has already gone down the tubes. Broadband is an absolute necessity, just like electricity and roads. The Eurostat map is very telling. Within the Mediterranean area, there are “green” islands where there is access to broadband, such as Corsica, the Balearic Islands and even Malta, and then there are “white” islands, which are unconnected from the rest of the world, such as our islands, namely Sicily, Sardinia and the Island of Elba. How come Corsica has a wider distribution of broadband services than any of the Italian Regions? I spent a few days in Sardinia and discovered that a number of areas on the island don’t even have mobile phone coverage. Italy is unified by its narrow band, and everywhere, from the North all the way through to the South, our telecommunications are as backward as those in a number of African Countries. In Lombardy, the distribution of broadband services is lower than in certain parts of Poland and is comparable to that in some poorer areas of Spain, such as La Mancha. This cannot be blamed on mere coincidence, but rather on the total lack of any forward vision displayed by the politicians and Confindustria, which has become little more than a Government concession holder, a government “favourite” that grants its favours in return for receiving government concessions. Without top of the line telecommunications, this Country has no future, and indeed not even a here and now. In this Country, nothing ever happens purely by chance. Therefore, we have to ask ourselves the usual question, namely "Cui prodest?", "Who is benefiting?" Who is benefiting from senseless laws like the Pisanu Law, which essentially outlaws wi fi? And from the high priority given to the prehistoric terrestrial digital services in order to increase the sales of television sets? Or from the tax on digital memory units, the so-called "Fair compensation" law, which merely increases the costs of any unlicensed copies made by users (unlike in the film "Minority report", the law punishes the intent rather than the crime)? Who benefits from the Wi Max licences granted to the same old telephone operators that have simply kept them locked up in some drawer? Or from the holding back of 800-million Euro already allocated for the development of broadband services in this Country, held back by an almost octogenarian Gianni Letta with the laughable justification that this money will be spent after the crisis (without telecommunications, the crisis will only get worse!)? Not to mention the laws introduced against the Web, the wilful destruction of Telecom Italia and its utilisation to create illegal dossiers on Italian citizens. The new Italy will not be televised, nor will it belong to these parties or these politicians. The Web is a very threat to the status quo. These manikins of power prefer the Titanic to progress. The band is narrow and Greece is nearby.