This article is also available in:
Deutsch: Spanien berät über die Schließung von Webseiten ohne richterliche V...

Despite the recent statements of Spanish culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde and the warnings received from Commissioner Reding, the Spanish Government announced at the beginning of December 2009 a proposal that may lead to shutting down websites that offer P2P file sharing of music and films, without the necessity of a court order.

The draft law for Sustainable Economy that may come into force in 2010, if approved by the Parliament, includes a modification that introduces an Intellectual Property Commission which will have the power to shut down web sites considered as illegally sharing cultural copyrighted content.

The proposal has brought forth the vivid reaction of Internet users, media representatives, bloggers, professionals and creators. The meeting that took place on 3 December between the representatives of opponents to the draft law and Sinde did not succeed in getting any results due to the large differences of opinions.

Sinde continues to state that the proposed legislation will not target individual Internet users who download material but web sites that illegally offer the possibility of downloading copyrighted works and that in no case would anyone's Internet connection be cut off. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero also stated the proposed legislation would not threaten the freedom of expression and that it was not the intention of the government to close down web sites.

According to the bill, the Intellectual Property Commission will have the power to investigate complaints about Web sites offering the possibility of P2P downloading and, in case it considers the respective websites make money from other people's work, it may close them down. In order to find the sites that infringe the law, the Commission may ask ISPs for the data they deem necessary to identify the respective web sites and the ISPs will be obliged to provide this information. Once the infringement considered proven, the Commission will send warnings to the alleged infringers in order to cease the downloading activity. And finally, if the web sites do not comply, the Commission may require the blocking of the sites or the removal of the illegally shared content.

The opponents of the bill accuse the Spanish Government of trying to create a "Culture Police". "The page with most links to copyright-protected content is Google. Are we going to close Google without a judicial order?" asked Victor Domingo, president of the Spanish Association of Internet Users.

Despite the Prime Minister's statement that web sites will not be shut down without a court order and that the law will not address the private individuals, several experts and legal advisers show that the draft law contradicts him. In their opinion, the text of the draft law is ambiguous, leaving very much room for interpretation. It also obliges the Internet service operators to reveal information on their users that may lead to blocking Internet connections or to finding out the entire one-year downloading history of a user.

The large number of opponents have spontaneously created a manifesto against the propose legislation which says amongst another things that "copyright should not be placed above citizens' fundamental rights to privacy, security, presumption of innocence, effective judicial protection and freedom of expression" and that "the Internet must function freely and without political interference spurred by interested sectors trying to perpetuate an obsolete business model and to prevent human knowledge from continuing to be free."

For the present, in Spain, downloading copyrighted material, although illegal, it is not a criminal offence and the courts consider the law is infringed only when the downloading is done for commercial profit.

Proposal of Web shutdown power angers Spanish Internet users (3.12.2009)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/news/ci_13918879

Dangerous Anti-sharing Law in Spain (3.12.2009)
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/dangerous-anti-sharing-law-in-spain

The cultural "police" of the Internet will be born (only in Spanish, 2.12.2009)
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Nace/policia/cultural/Internet/...

The anti-downloading law revives the confrontation between the cultural industry and the Internet community (only in Spanish, 2.12.2009)
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/ley/antidescargas/aviva/enfrent...

The manifest "In the defence of the fundamental rights on the Internet"(in Spanish, 2.12.2009)
http://www.internautas.org/html/5871.html

We don't believe Zapatero (only in Spanish, 12.12.2009) http://www.internautas.org/html/5889.html

EDRi-gram: Spain warned by Commissioner Reding for cutting off Internet access (2.12.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number7.23/reading-warns-spain-3-strikes