Italy’s Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli has signed a decree extending the country’s “private copy” compensation scheme to cloud storage. As reported by Corriere della Sera, the new regulation introduces a monthly levy on cloud storage space, applying for the first time to remote data hosted by services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive. The decision has been hailed by rights holders as a necessary update to copyright policy but is being widely criticized by industry groups as anachronistic, burdensome, and ripe for double taxation.
Basically, they will tax you under the assumption you are pirating content.
How It Works—and Why It’s Controversial
Under the new rules, users will pay a monthly fee based on the amount of cloud storage they use: €0.0003 per gigabyte (GB) for the first 500 GB, and €0.0002 per GB thereafter, with the first GB exempt and a cap of €2.40 per month (about €29 annually) per user. The levy mirrors the existing “private copy” compensation already applied to physical storage devices such as smartphones, tablets, PCs, and external hard drives. The rationale, according to the Ministry of Culture, is that cloud storage—like physical media—enables users to make private copies of copyrighted works.
But here’s where the controversy begins. The decree also updates the fees for physical devices, with increases of up to 40% for high-capacity drives. For consumers, this means an extra €3–€10 on smartphones and up to €6 on PCs, with larger devices like 2TB hard drives seeing levies exceeding €30.
Who’s Paying—and Who’s Profiting?
The money collected from these levies goes to SIAE, Italy’s collecting society, which redistributes it to authors, artists, and publishers. From SIAE’s perspective, the expansion to cloud storage is a logical step in an era where digital files are increasingly stored remotely rather than on physical devices.
But for internet providers and ICT companies, the move is a step backward. AIIP (the Italian Internet Providers Association) and Assintel (the National ICT Enterprises Association) have labeled the measure “outdated,” arguing that it fails to account for the realities of modern digital ecosystems. They warn of “double taxation,” as users could be charged both for the devices they own and for the cloud services they use—potentially penalizing the same act of copying twice.
The Business Angle—and the Risk of Overreach
Even more troubling, say industry groups, is the inclusion of business-to-business (B2B) cloud services. Companies use cloud storage for backups, disaster recovery, and operational continuity—activities that have little to do with “private copying.” For small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the added administrative burden and potential costs could be significant, especially given the requirement for detailed reporting and compliance.
AIIP and Assintel have threatened legal action and are calling for an urgent technical dialogue with the government to exclude B2B cloud services from the levy, clarify the scope of the regulation, and simplify compliance.
What’s at Stake?
The broader implications are clear. If the costs of the levy are passed on to consumers and businesses, it could dampen the adoption of cloud services in Italy, putting local providers at a competitive disadvantage compared to global platforms that can absorb or circumvent such costs. There is also the risk of “regulatory arbitrage,” where users and companies migrate to foreign providers outside the reach of Italian law.
The Bottom Line
While the intent behind the reform—to ensure creators are compensated in the digital age—is understandable, the execution raises serious questions. By extending a 20th-century concept of “private copying” to the cloud without clear distinctions between personal and professional use, the Italian government risks creating a system that is both regressive and inefficient. As the debate unfolds, the real test will be whether the benefits to rights holders outweigh the potential harm to innovation, competition, and digital inclusion in Italy.
Source: hwupgrade
Like my content? Support me with a tip!
