Stefano Quintarelli (born 14 June 1965) is an Italian information technology specialist and a descendant of the Italian writer

Emilio Salgari Emilio Salgari (, but often erroneously ; 21 August 1862 – 25 April 1911) was an Italian writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction. In Italy, his extensive body of work was more widely read than that of Dante ...

. He was a member of the

Italian Parliament The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italy, Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingd ...

in the XVII legislature, as part of the

Civics and Innovators Civics and Innovators (, CI) was a Centrism, centrist and liberalism, liberal sub-group within the Mixed Group (previously a parliamentary group) in the Chamber of Deputies (Italy), Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament. Its leader was Gio ...

group. He was a member of the telecommunications and transport commission in the

during the XVII Legislature and is President of AGID (Government Agency for Digital Italy). Quintarelli was included in a ''

Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

'' article on the thirty most innovative Italian entrepreneurs. After leaving BT Group in 2007, until July 2012 he was the managing director of the digital area of ''

Il Sole 24 Ore (; English: "The Sun 24 Hours") is the Italian financial newspaper of record, owned by Confindustria, the Italian employers' federation. is the leading financial daily in Italy. History and profile was first published on 9 November 1965 as ...

'', an Italian financial newspaper. He left office when he was proposed as an independent candidate for the presidency of AGCOM, the Italian communications authority. In proposing his candidacy, the Italian section of ISOC likened him to one of the great figures of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. In 2015, he formally defined the concept of Device Neutrality and proposed a bill to enforce it in Italy. The bill was stopped at the final vote in the Senate in 2017, after many successful votes in the Chamber of Deputies and through all Senate committees, due to lobbying efforts by some multinational device manufacturers and telecom operators. The law has since gained formal support at the European Commission by BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

, and the

Hermes Center for Transparency and Digital Human Rights Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quickl ...

. A law with identical principles has been passed in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and the French telecoms regulator ARCEP has called for the introduction of Device Neutrality in Europe. He defined the foundational principles of

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Digital Identity A digital identity is data stored on Computer, computer systems relating to an individual, organization, application, or device. For individuals, it involves the collection of personal data that is essential for facilitating automated access to ...

under the

eIDAS The eIDAS Regulation (for "electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services") is an regulation (European Union), EU regulation with the stated purpose of governing "electronic identification and trust service provider, trust service ...

regulation. He theorized the Internet as a dimension of existence, in which social and economic relations are created and developed, and the emergence of a new class conflict between intermediaries and the intermediated that surrounds and dominates the traditional conflict between

capitalists Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by a n ...

and the

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

. This introduces, in addition to the traditional categories of capital and labor, the information category, which is controlled by a small number of info-plutocrats. From 2014 to 2021, he was the chairman of AgID, Italy's digital agency.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quintarelli, Stefano Italian businesspeople 1965 births Living people