Imagine the press conference in the pre-Wikileaks world of just a month ago: a journalist stands up and asks Spanish Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde if her government’s persistence in trying to push through a controversial anti-P2P bill making it easier to shut down websites that link to copyrighted material might have something to do with pressure from the US embassy in Madrid. Visibly outraged at the suggestion, Sinde sidelines the question, and reiterates the official line: “The government is fully committed to protecting intellectual copyright, which is fundamental to the growth of our culture industry… Spain cannot afford the luxury of wasting its creative talent and the … [Read more...] about Spain’s anti-P2P “Sinde law”: Her Master’s Voice?
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Wikileaks: Washington’s peculiar view of Spain
The amount of information related to Spain that has emerged as part of the recent Wikileaks revelations is enormous. With El País nominated as one of the five newspapers to benefit from the distribution, this was inevitable. Since the first day of publication, on November 28, we have seen reports of how the US government pressured Spanish legal authorities to drop the case against American troops blamed for the death of cameraman José Couso in Iraq; of how Washington pressured Spanish firms to leave Iran and the Spanish government to approve internet anti-piracy legislation; of Madrid’s covert support for Morocco’s cause in the Western Sahara conflict; and of Prime Minister Zapatero’s … [Read more...] about Wikileaks: Washington’s peculiar view of Spain