Wednesday, January 4th 2012
SOPA-like Legislation Mulled in Spain
The Spanish cabinet has approved a new legislation similar to America's Stop Online-Piracy Act (SOPA), designed to bring down websites facilitating copyright infringement in 10 days flat thanks to a streamlined due-process. Named after former Spanish culture minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde, the legislation will be called the "Sinde Law", the legislation proposes a mechanism with which copyright holders have the ability to report websites hosting copyrighted content (direct downloads), or facilitating copyright infringement (bit-torrent tracker sites), to a commission dedicated to hearing such complaints. This body decides if it wants to act against the infringing website or the ISPs providing infrastructure to it. A case will then be passed to a judge to rule on whether the site should be shut down.
The bill is being drafted in a way that ensures the process from complaint to action/dismissal happens within a time-frame of 10 working days. The Spanish Government says that it is high time the country had such a legislation, because rampant copyright infringement is stifling innovation and creativity. A report by market-intelligence firm IDC says that 97.8% of music consumption in Spain was illegal. Deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that the objective of this legislation is "to safeguard intellectual property, boost [Spanish] culture industries and protect the rights of owners, creators and others in the face of the lucrative plundering of illegal downloading sites." The legislation is welcomed by the creative industries, and criticized by net activists.
Source:
BBC
The bill is being drafted in a way that ensures the process from complaint to action/dismissal happens within a time-frame of 10 working days. The Spanish Government says that it is high time the country had such a legislation, because rampant copyright infringement is stifling innovation and creativity. A report by market-intelligence firm IDC says that 97.8% of music consumption in Spain was illegal. Deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said that the objective of this legislation is "to safeguard intellectual property, boost [Spanish] culture industries and protect the rights of owners, creators and others in the face of the lucrative plundering of illegal downloading sites." The legislation is welcomed by the creative industries, and criticized by net activists.
47 Comments on SOPA-like Legislation Mulled in Spain
This seems to be the way it will start going for a lot of countries, and all that will happen is people will either find a new way to share or find a way around the blocking.
Death to SOPA!
We are very tired of our politicians. In Spain we have over 300 cases of corruption:
maps.google.es/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=208661973302683578218.00049ca0e3e7654bb763a
Every "sticker" is a case of corruption.
And no, 97.8% of music consumption in Spain is not illegal.
what these people fail to realise is that just because someone pirates a song, it does not mean they would have bought it if the pirate route was not available to them..
Spain was one of the few countries with sane copyright laws. There, one could legally share music/movies/software as long as it wasn't done for financial profit. Now their doing SOPA. :shadedshu
so even if SOPA and PROTECT IP Act dont pass in the us there will be some other country to adopt them :shadedshu
Sorry for my insults.
Well, you'll be glad to know that our British government is completely honest and above board and would never introduce dodgy legislation like the Digital Economy Act to serve the interests of Big Media. No, never.
/sarcasm
Anyway, welcome to TPU. :toast:
I want to clarify my definition. I should have said "corporatist capitalist sons of a b**ch".
I'd like that Spain is anything like USA, Germany, UK, etc ... But, we seem to Italy, another country collapsed by corruption.
They are corrupts anyway, a lot of.
Granted its a much tougher road. But your history (Spain) proves you got what it takes. Not many nations can say "We had an 800 year occupation and kept our culture".
FYI not saying we are any different in the States mind you. We are well on our way to become a massively corrupt circle jerk. Personally I think we already are but there are a few who still think government is there to help.Oh hell you didnt offend anyone man. If you did then they need to get thicker skin. I got where you are coming from.
Little else to be expected of a right-wing government, irrespective of their stance whilst in opposition.
The law in most countries already enables the criminal pursuit of illicit downloads, whereby it is clear that legislation such as SOPA and Sinde only exists to serve corporate interests at the expense of eroding individual rights; emphasise our position as consumers, over and above our status as citizens, before the judiciary; and call upon all who engage in legitimate Internet business and communication to, once again, assume responsibility for the wrongdoings of a demon conjured up by large corporations.
Such legislation is preposterous on so many levels and exposes any notion of our politicians serving the interests of the wider public as a nonsense. Shame on them.
I ask because in the US they like to use Terrorism and "Protecting the middle class" as an excuse to take away liberties.
Piracy does not represent lost sales, what excuse do these politicians have for focusing their attention on the alleged lost revenue of huge corporations when employment figures translate to 1 in 5?