Piffey

Just last Monday the Spanish parliament viewed the latest draft of the Sustainable Economy Act. This law is designed to change current copyright laws to allow the Spanish Ministry of Culture to take down websites (both domestic and international) by blocking their viewing from Spanish ISPs all without court order. All of this is done under the guise of ‘safeguarding Intellectual Property Laws against Internet Piracy’ which mostly happens on peer-to-peer networks that can’t be blocked anyways (brilliant!).

Then, on Wednesday, a group of journalists, bloggers, and other media professionals gathered on Google Wave to compose the Manifesto in Defense of Fundamental Rights on the Internet. The Manifesto was then published on over 50,000 blogs and websites causing the Spanish Ministry of Culture to meet with several signers of the Manifesto and  Internet experts on Thursday morning. By Thursday afternoon the Prime Minister of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero urged parliament to change the Sustainable Economy Act so that a court order will continue to be a requirement in censoring IP traffic.

I’m glad this one had a good ending but it shows the kinds of subtle bits of legislation that we need to keep our eyes on. This bit also shows how united Internet users, using collaborative products like Google Wave, can create a manifest and incite change in under two days. The Internet provides us access to these tools. We need to maintain our ability to access them freely.

Excerpt of the Manifesto below:

1 .- Copyright should not be placed above citizens’ fundamental rights to privacy, security, presumption of innocence, effective judicial protection and freedom of expression.

2 .- Suspension of fundamental rights is and must remain an exclusive competence of judges. This blueprint, contrary to the provisions of Article 20.5 of the Spanish Constitution, places in the hands of the executive the power to keep Spanish citizens from accessing certain websites.

3 .- The proposed laws would create legal uncertainty across Spanish IT companies, damaging one of the few areas of development and future of our economy, hindering the creation of startups, introducing barriers to competition and slowing down its international projection.

4 .- The proposed laws threaten creativity and hinder cultural development. The Internet and new technologies have democratized the creation and publication of all types of content, which no longer depends on an old small industry but on multiple and different sources.

5 .- Authors, like all workers, are entitled to live out of their creative ideas, business models and activities linked to their creations. Trying to hold an obsolete industry with legislative changes is neither fair nor realistic. If their business model was based on controlling copies of any creation and this is not possible any more on the Internet, they should look for a new business model.

6 .- We believe that cultural industries need modern, effective, credible and affordable alternatives to survive. They also need to adapt to new social practices.

7 .- The Internet should be free and not have any interference from groups that seek to perpetuate obsolete business models and stop the free flow of human knowledge.

8 .- We ask the Government to guarantee net neutrality in Spain, as it will act as a framework in which a sustainable economy may develop.

9 .- We propose a real reform of intellectual property rights in order to ensure a society of knowledge, promote the public domain and limit abuses from copyright organizations.

10 .- In a democracy, laws and their amendments should only be adopted after a timely public debate and consultation with all involved parties. Legislative changes affecting fundamental rights can only be made in a Constitutional law.

(From Hiperactivo via /.)

The first bullet about copyright not breaching “privacy, security, presumption of innocence, effective judicial protection and freedom of expression” is a point that needs to be remembered and should echo worldwide. We tend to sacrafice a lot allowing this “obselete industry” (analog formats essentially) to hold on to their failing business model. Their attempts to enact legislation to protect themselves (recording and/or movie industry) in an ever-changing consumer market only shows their lack of innovation and refusal to adapt.