10 Jul 2002
After an investigation lasting almost two years, a team of Italian police officers has shut down five websites which have been mixing pornography and religion.
A police spokesman said: "We blocked out these sites because they tied a festival of blasphemy with distasteful sexual images in which they mixed the name of God, and the name of the Madonna, with religious cursing.
Further reading
"They then went on to show a nun in suggestive clothes [and] other things in poor taste."
Although religious swearing in the country has been decriminalised, publishing or broadcasting sacrilegious material is still an offence.
More worrying for the church is that the sites registered about 12 million hits over the two years they were open, according to police.
The officers were involved in an international operation to catch the website operators because, although they were created in Italy, the internet service providers were based in Washington DC and California.
Latest stories from Web
Related articles
Related jobs
Poll
What is the most important IT priority for your company this year?
Sneak peek at the forthcoming glass-based machine
Connect with V3.co.uk
This paper focuses on a series of best practices and techniques for development teams looking to improve their software development processes
Why good data management at all levels is essential in the modern business (video, 6mins)
Digital Account Executive Fulham, London 25k A great...
Our global consultancy client currently seeks a number...
Support Analyst x 1/2 Skills: Apple Mac OSX, Windows...
Network Consultant - London - 55-65k My client are...
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies. IThound.com brings you over 2,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.
Do you agree?