The cabinet of Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Friday approved the text of a bill to regulate the use of wiretapping in criminal investigations which includes jail terms for journalists who publish leaked transcripts.
The draft bill caused a stir earlier this week when the government first announced that it would introduce the new measures by decree, meaning that they would take immediate and be put on a fast track in parliament in order to be approved within 60 days.
The government issued a correction, saying it meant draft bill and not decree, two hours after the original announcement which had sparked protests not only from the center-left opposition but also President Giorgio Napolitano, who had always maintained that reforms of this nature needed broad, bipartisan support and should not be rammed through by majority rule.
The reform had also created some problems among the government parties over Berlusconi's initial position that wiretapping should only be allowed to combat organized crime and terrorism.
The bill approved by the cabinet now also foresees using wire taps for investigations into the corruption of public officials and accepting kickbacks, human trafficking and child pornography.
The government argued that limits were needed on wiretapping to defend the privacy of citizens whose private conversations with suspects targeted by probes have, in recent years, often ended up in the press.
Another argument for the reform was that large amounts of funds were being wasted on inconsequential wire taps, at a time when the government is trying to curb spending.
According to the government, Italy leads other European countries and even the United States in the amount of wire taps carried out annually by investigators.
Enrico Costa, majority representative on the House's Justice Committee, said that Italy carries out some 120,000 wire taps each year, compared to some 20,000 in France and an average of 5,000 in other European countries.
However, according to Massimo Donadi of the opposition Italy of values (IDV) party, ''this is a big, fat lie. The number of people subject to wire taps in Italy is no more than 20-25,000.
Donadi, who is IDV House whip, explained that ''the number 120,000 refers to the number of authorizations approved by magistrates, 70% of which were extensions given that authorizations are currently only for two weeks''.
''This brings the number down to 40,000, and when you take into account that three or four authorizations are needed for each person under surveillance - for the home, the office and one or more cellphones - the number of being people subject to wire taps is no more than 20-25,000,'' Donadi said.
Under the new bill drawn up by the government, a panel of three magistrates will be needed to authorize wire taps compared to only one at present.
There will be a three month limit on wire taps, public officials who leak the content of taped conversations risk five years in jail and journalists who publish the leaks risk three.
In general, wire taps cannot be used for crime which carry sentences of less than ten years.
This means, for example, that they cannot be used to trap public officials who leak information gathered through wire taps.
Nor could they have been used to uncover the recent health scandal in Milan where a private clinic was fleecing the national health service by carrying out unnecessary and at times fatal surgery on patients.
Opposition leader Walter Veltroni says the government's proposals would effectively clip prosecutors' wings by depriving them of ''an essential tool'' for probes on serious crimes.
He agreed, however, that curbs were needed to protect privacy rights.
''Publishing (of transcripts) should not be allowed...it's unacceptable for wire taps to end up in the press,'' he said.
The head of the country's journalists' union, Roberto Natale, said the press was dead set against the plan.
''We're absolutely against a wiretapping bill. Privacy rights have nothing to do with it. What's at stake is the taxpayers' rights to be informed,'' he explained.
Given that the bill must clear both houses of parliament, it is unlikely that it will become law in its present form.
