IN DEFENSE OF THE RIGHTS OF CITIZENS ON THE INTERNET

In WeblogsSL we believe that we are in a particularly delicate moment in terms of internet development in Spain. The project of the Sustainable Economy Law has surprised us with a large group of citizens, companies and organizations that we know, build and love the internet that brings so much value to our society. Some of the changes that have been included in this project can transform and inaugurate in a period with less rights for citizens, less privacy and less freedom of expression, and with great insecurity for the companies that work in it. Some analysis of these changes can be found in Loitering, The Salmon Blog, Journalists 21, Netoratón, Público, Enrique Dans or El País.

In light of this event, we have participated in the development of a Manifesto "In defense of fundamental rights on the Internet", whose text we assume and support as the starting point of a critical opposition to all attempts, come from whoever comes, to undermine the rights of citizens and businesses on the Internet in favor of a few.

Manifesto "In defense of fundamental rights on the Internet"

Given the inclusion in the Draft Law on the Sustainable Economy of legislative modifications that affect the free exercise of freedom of expression, information and the right of access to culture through the Internet, journalists, bloggers, users, professionals and creators of internet we express our firm opposition to the project, and declare that ...

1.- Copyright cannot be placed above the fundamental rights of citizens, such as the right to privacy, security, presumption of innocence, effective judicial protection and freedom of expression.

2.- The suspension of fundamental rights is and must remain the exclusive competence of the judiciary. Not a closing without sentence. This draft, contrary to what is established in article 20.5 of the Constitution, puts in the hands of a non-judicial body - an agency dependent on the Ministry of Culture -, the power to prevent Spanish citizens from accessing any web page.

3.- The new legislation will create legal uncertainty throughout the Spanish technology sector, damaging one of the few fields of development and future of our economy, hindering the creation of companies, introducing obstacles to free competition and slowing down its international projection.

4.- The proposed new legislation threatens new creators and hinders cultural creation. With the Internet and the successive technological advances, the creation and broadcasting of content of all kinds, which no longer come predominantly from traditional cultural industries, but from a multitude of different sources has been democratized extraordinarily.

5.- Authors, like all workers, have the right to live from their work with new creative ideas, business models and activities associated with their creations. Trying to maintain an obsolete industry with legislative changes that cannot adapt to this new environment is neither fair nor realistic. If your business model was based on the control of copies of the works and the Internet is not possible without violating fundamental rights, they should look for another model.

6.- We believe that cultural industries need to survive modern, effective, credible and affordable alternatives and that they adapt to new social uses., instead of limitations as disproportionate as ineffective for the purpose they claim to pursue.

7.- The Internet must operate freely and without political interference sponsored by sectors that seek to perpetuate obsolete business models and make it impossible for human knowledge to remain free.

8.- We demand that the Government guarantee by law the neutrality of the Network in Spain, in the face of any pressure that may occur, as a framework for the development of a sustainable and realistic economy for the future.

9.- We propose a true reform of intellectual property right aimed at its end: return knowledge to society, promote public domain and limit abuses by management entities.

10.- In democracy the laws and their modifications must be approved after the appropriate public debate and having previously consulted all the parties involved. It is not acceptable to make legislative changes that affect fundamental rights in a non-organic law and that deals with other matters.

In WeblogsSL | In defense of the rights of citizens on the internet