Some of the largest file-sharing websites in Spain went dark on Monday afternoon to protest pending legislation that would create a Commission on Intellectual Property under the nation’s Ministry of Culture.
The Sustainable Economy Law (LES), also known as the Sinde Law, is expected to pass through Spain’s Congress on Tuesday. If created, the Commission on Intellectual Property would filter complaints against websites that infringe on copyrights, and would have the power to block any site at their discretion if a complaint is received.
At noon on Sunday, the websites of Cinetube, DivxTotal, Mydescarga, Peliculasyonkis, Series Danko, Seriespepito, Seriesyonkis and SuBTorrent took down their regular content and replaced it with the following message:
"If the law is passed Sinde This page will disappear. The Internet is a TV again, the service of power. For freedom of expression on the Net No censorship. Sinde not the law. No to the closure of sites. "
There was also a link to a website that explains the basis for the protest.
Not only is the law expected to pass, but the type of legislative session being held will allow it to pass through Congress without discussion about any amendments or articles of law that should be associated with it. The participating sites are protesting that action just as much as the law itself. If the law does pass Congress as expected, however, it will still have to go through the Senate sometime next year,
This joint protest, the largest of its kind since last December, is expected to get the attention of plenty of people since the sites together account for nearly 70% of Spain’s web traffic and millions of page views per year.
It’s also interesting to note that this particular piece of legislation was recently revealed by WikiLeaks to have been created as a result of pressure from the US government.
This is just one more in a series of laws that are being proposed all over the world to begin heavy-handed government regulation of the internet. No matter what country you reside in, I urge you to write to your government representatives and let them know how you feel about these actions. Positive action will only occur if citizens stand up and let their opinions be known.
