A last minute deal between the two main political parties will ensure a watered down version of the new law on illegal downloading from the Internet passes through the Senate and goes on to become law.
On hearing the announcement the President of the Film Academy, Alex de la Iglesia, released his bombshell: he would resign in protest after the Goyas ceremony.
After surfers organized a massive cyber attack in protest against the proposed law Alex de la Iglesia agreed to meet them and hear their grievances. The meeting resulted in a new “spirit of understanding” springing up between the cultural sector and Internet groups.
Participants “twittered:” “Good news: the meeting is working. We recognize some mistakes. They bring ideas;” and: “Yes, you can compete with the freebies, but no-one said it would be easy;” or: “The cultural industry had not understood the effects of Sinde´s Law in that it won´t solve the problem but will generate a tremendous insecurity on the web.”
An alternative plan agreed between Alex de la Iglesia and the surfers proposes the creation of an administrative organization, called the Commission of Intellectual Property, headed by a judge, who would have the power to block web pages which facilitate downloads without the authorization of the author.
Supporters and those who oppose the law do agree that the current situation is untenable. Some 76% of downloads in Spain are music and, of those, 95.6% are “pirate.” Illegal downloading in Spain is considered “endemic” and the Government has been under pressure from the cultural sector to solve the problem which, it is claimed “threatening livelihoods”.
The Internet groups, on the other hand, point to the massive profits of the music and film industry. They are demanding changes to the “way business is done” on the Internet. They claim “In our alternative plan subscription or paid downloads would be able to compete with free downloads because the business model would have changed. Surfers and web designers could also earn a living through the Internet.”
Opposition to the law has been mounting and some 40,000 people had already signed a petition against the law. The Internet vigilante organization, Anonymous, stepped into the fray organizing a cyber protest which consisted of a massive attack on the web pages of various institutions and organizations in Spain including the Senate and the opposition party, PP (Partido Popular).
The original Sinde’s Law envisaged the closure of offending web pages, by a swift judicial procedure, within 48 hours. The first novelty of the amendment extends the period for closure to between 15 and 17 days and offers more guarantees. The amendment also proposes a judicial overview for the entire process from the moment the Commission of Intellectual Property receives the complaint. The Commission will require information of the owner of the dominion, the number of users and other “confidential subjects.” Once a judicial order is made the disclosure of this information will be obligatory.
The Minister of Culture, after whom the law has been named, has said: “This is a law that respects the rights of everyone. When it begins to work we will see that it is no threat for Internet users. We are clear that we are not going to persecute individuals.”
The decision on the controversial law, which forms part of the proposed Law of Sustainable Economy, hit the rocks in Congress in December. This new amendment is due to be heard in the Senate in February and then will return to the Congress to be passed into law.
The Minister has already appealed to the President of the Film Academy to “reconsider his decision” but it seems unlikely. As unlikely as the notion that the Internet users are going to take this new version of the law lying down.
