Oops! Italy inadvertently allows sharing of some P2P music

A misinterpretation of one term leads to legalization of some P2P music.  According to AfterDawn.com Italian parliament has accidentally granted green light to some music sharing over P2P networks.

The recent copyright law, approved by both houses of the parliament consents to Italians sharing music online provided that it is "noncommercial" and "degraded" with reference to quality.

The Italian newspaper la Republica which addressed the matter quotes Italian copyright legal representative Andrea Monti who declared that "whoever authored the law failed to take into account that the word 'degraded' has a 'very precise meaning'." At present, music which is being sold on all major legal alternatives is degraded, usually to 192kbps MP3 or 128kbps AAC. What the new law establishes is the right of any Italian to swap music files using P2P networks on condition that it is not lossless.

Although this law intends such sharing to have an "educational or scientific" purpose, Monti considers (rightfully I’d say) that it will end up helping P2P users to evade prosecution.

However, if Italian legislators make their mind up about this new law not being such a brilliant idea after all, the only solution they are left with is to repeat the whole process of developing a new improved law. It seems the legislation in progress cannot be amended "needing only publication in the Official Journal before becoming law."