The spanish SGAE (General Authors Society of Spain) continues its attacks as forefront of the crusade to saveguard authorship rights (including all media from print to feature films) from, judging by the increasingly histerycal and totally out of place tone of their crusade, apparently all society, this understood as just everybody who wants for example to buy some BLANK cds, who is now beforehand considered as a pirate and a threat to the sacred values of market.

Yes, they managed as a lobby to push a bill by which now in Spain you are charged an abusive tax for the concept of copyright when you buy blank media. (I believe still not all brands, but most of them). But, I hear you saying, what if I just want it to back up MY stuff? Doesn't matter, you pay anyway. That saying not to justify in any case that you should be charged any copyright tax for blank media anyway.

They have been campaining for ridiculous policies for the last 4-5 years, and they've had some success, at the cost of everyone and just common sense. But the last statements they have produced go beyond anything you'd have heard before, and yes, this time is about the Internet!

They are claiming the everyone in the internet should be registered and identified. And they claim that the Internet should be regulated. (Can you see the burocrats rubbing their hands?)

As you see, not only they are just a gang of corporate thugs under the flag of copyright, and a
means for the totalitarian mentalities of our "representatives", but
they also are too stupid to even understand the Internet. (A self-regulated entity hopefully still beyond the absolute control of governments)

Along all these waves of repressive attacks to the right of the people to copy their stuff, share it, play it on any device regardless of brands, etc, that we used to have for granted, in Spain there's now a law regulating "the information services", that including the internet of course: the LSSI, just another stupid law limiting the mentioned rights. You see, it is so stupid that in theory to share a wireless internet connection with your neighbour or in a cafe would be ilegal.

In Spain though, it is still perfectly legal to download copyrighted stuff thru P2P services like e-mule. Unless you are making profit of it, as the current applicable law still dictates.
Of course, the SGAE in their media campaings are trying to intoxicating people with the lie that it is now ilegal.

In one of the latest unbelievable episodes, Jorge Cortell, ex-profesor at the Valencia Univerity, was expelled of this University after, against all barriers, dificulties and attempts of censorship they tried to impose on him, he dared to conduct his conference "P2P is good and it is legal", in which he demostrated live how you download some mp3, publicly comunicating about the conference to SGAE representatives challenging the to call the police and get him arrested!

In this crusade we have also this obscure association, the international equivalent of SGAE, the BSA, formed by big IT names such as Apple.

Can you see it coming?

Definitely we should really start thinking about how to strike back.

I am willing to promote a protest campaing based among other things on service denegation attacks against the sites of these bastards. If anyone has any ideas or is willing to help please reply

Let's defend what has made independent media possible


 http://jorge.cortell.net/ spanish-english
 http://www.sgae.es/ spanish-english
 http://www.bsa.org/ english