For a detailed legal analysis of that law
http://derechoenred.com/blog/?page_id=181
We consider the withdrawal of the first final provision of the Sustainable Economy Act essential for the following reasons:
1 -It violates the constitutional rights on which a democratic state must be based, in particular the presumption of innocence, freedom of expression, privacy, inviolability of the home, effective judicial protection, freedom of the market, protection of consumers, among others.
2 – It creates a state of exception for the Internet in which citizens will be dealt with through summary administrative procedures reserved by the National Court for drug traffickers and terrorists.
3 – It establishes an “à la carte” punitive procedure for cases in which the courts have already stated that they did not constitute a crime, even implying the need to amend at least 4 laws, one of them organic. This brings a radical change in the legal system and a source of insecurity for the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) sector. We recall, in this regard, that the exchange of knowledge and culture on the network is an important economic engine for getting out of the crisis, as has been amply demonstrated.
4 – The urgent preventive mechanisms available to the law and the judiciary are meant to protect all citizens against risks as serious as those affecting public health. The government intends to use these same mechanisms of global protection to benefit private interests against citizens. In addition, the regulation will introduce the concept of “indirect profit”, that is: my blog could be shut down because I “promote” someone who “promotes” another who links to a third party doing allegedly unlawful business.
5 – We recall that intellectual property is not a fundamental right, contrary to the statements of the Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamaño. What is a fundamental right is the right to literary and artistic production.
6 – According to the statements of the Minister of Culture, this provision will be used exclusively to close down 200 websites that allegedly infringe copyright. We understand that if this is the objective of the provision, it is not necessary, since under current legislation there are procedures that allow action against websites, even with precautionary measures, when the law is allegedly being breached. So we can only be suspicious of the true intentions behind it, since the only thing it adds to current legislation is leaving citizens in a situation of serious legal defencelessness in the digital environment.
7 – Finally, we consider that the government’s proposal is not only a waste of resources but will be absolutely ineffective in its alleged purposes and makes plain the total inability of the executive to understand the times and engines of the Digital Age.
The provision is yet another concession to the old entertainment industry to the detriment of the fundamental rights of citizens in the digital age.
Citizens cannot in any way allow the attempts to continue violating people’s fundamental rights, without due effective judicial protection, in order to protect lesser rights such as intellectual property. This was already clarified with the declaration of unconstitutionality of the Corcuera law (or kick-in-the-door law).
The Manifesto in defence of fundamental rights on the Internet
, backed by more than 200 000 people, already anticipated the reaction and demands of citizens before the unacceptable outlook of the government.
To push for a definitive change of course and coordinate a joint response, on 9 January the “Red SOStenible” was formed, a platform representative of all sectors of civil society affected. The objective is to launch an offensive to guarantee a regulation of the digital environment that allows the full potential of the Net and of cultural creation to be expressed while respecting fundamental freedoms.
In this sense, we recognise as a reference for the development of the digital age the
Charter for innovation, creativity and access to knowledge
, a synthesis document drawn up by more than
100 experts from 20 countries
which sets out the fundamental legal principles that must inspire this new horizon.
In particular, we consider that at this moment it is especially urgent for governments and competent institutions to implement the following aspects set out in the Charter:
1 – Artists, like all workers, must be able to live from their work (reference point 2 “Legal demands”, paragraph B. “Stimulating creativity and innovation”, of the Charter);
2 – Society needs an open and free network for its development (reference point 2 “Legal demands”, paragraph D “Access to technological infrastructures”, of the Charter);
3 – The right to quote and the right to share must be promoted and not limited, as the foundation of any possibility of information and constitutive of all knowledge (reference point 2 “Legal demands”, paragraph A “Rights in a digital context”, of the Charter);
4 – Citizens must be able to freely enjoy the exclusive rights over public goods paid for with their money, with public money (reference point 2 “Legal demands”, paragraph C “Common knowledge and the public domain”, of the Charter);
5 -We consider a thorough reform of the system of collecting societies and the abolition of the digital levy necessary (reference point 2 “Legal demands”, paragraph B. “Stimulating creativity and innovation”, of the Charter).
For all these reasons, today the campaign INTERNET WILL NOT BE ANOTHER TV begins and various citizen actions will be carried out throughout the period of the Spanish presidency of the EU.
We consider particularly important in the calendar of the rotating Spanish presidency the II Congress on the Economics of Culture (29 and 30 March in Barcelona), the Informal Meeting of Culture Ministers (30 and 31 March in Barcelona) and the meeting of Telecommunications Ministers (18 to 20 April in Granada).
The Network plans to meet with national and international representatives of political parties, representatives of culture and diplomatic legations.
Signed Red SOStenible
http://Red-SOStenible.net/colabora/
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