Creating chats on WhatsApp to report the checkpoints set up by the police is not considered a crime. This is the conclusion of Luisa Avanzino, judge who conducted the preliminary investigations for an investigation in which 49 young people from the Scrivia Valley, in Liguria, were investigated. The youngsters had created a group chat on the instant messaging app - which included over 100 participants - with the aim of reporting roadblocks and avoiding any fines or license suspensions.
In some cases, the reports were accompanied by epithets and insults against the police which, however, were not considered as a case of contempt for the GIP given the "closed nature of the chat and conversation". As already mentioned, for the judge there was no violation by the participants in the conversation as it would not "entail any alteration of the service that has always been carried out regularly, considering the number of road users and the limited number of participants in the chat “.
A similar situation has already occurred in Canicattì where the participants of a chat similar to the Ligurian one have been accused of violating article 340 of the Criminal Code concerning their own the interruption of public service or public need. The art. states "whoever, apart from the cases provided for by particular legal provisions, causes an interruption or disturbs the regularity of a public office or service or a service of public necessity, is punished with imprisonment for up to one year". In this case, it would be difficult - if not impossible - to demonstrate a real disruption of the public service by simply reporting roadblocks or speed cameras.
This practice though would violate an article of the Highway Code (Article 45 paragraph 9-bis) which prohibits "the production, marketing and use of devices that, directly or indirectly, signal the presence and allow the location of the appropriate detection equipment referred to in Article 142, paragraph 6, used by the traffic police for control of violations ".
In short, as often happens, when the law and technology meet it becomes obvious the absence - in some circumstances - of a clear and precise legal framework that clearly defines the lawful and illegal uses of certain technologies. A striking case of this lack is the use of artificial intelligence and especially facial recognition in public places, an evolution that the EU is trying to delay until new rules on privacy and security are established aimed at prevent abuse of the use that could be made of the collected data.
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