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Friday, January 06, 2012

U.S. Ambassador Threatens To ‘Downgrade’ Spain Over Online Piracy Laws

Just how serious is the U.S.’ dedication to fighting online piracy? A leaked letter sent by the U.S. Ambassador in Madrid to the Spanish president suggests it’s apparently serious enough to offer veiled threats to nations who apparently aren’t doing enough to help in the struggle.
 A letter from U.S. Ambassador Alan Solomont to outgoing Spanish president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, dated December 12, leaked to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, argues that the government has “unfortunately failed to finish the job [of passing specific anti-piracy legislation] for political reasons, to the detriment of the reputation and economy of Spain” before going on to state that Spain is on a list compiled by U.S. trade representatives of countries not providing “adequate and effective” protection of intellectual property. The letter suggests that Spain may find itself joining a blacklist of “the worst violators of global intellectual property rights” if it doesn’t change direction soon.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Until we give governments control of our privately developed internet, crap like this will continue to be brought up. DON'T FALL FOR IT. There are currently 3 bills on the books in the US shopping to take control, and the governments hate our ability to communicate freely among ourselves. They cannot control us until we cannot communicate with each other.

imabear said...

They cannot control us until we cannot communicate with each other.

January 7, 2012 8:28 AM

LOL you really believe that?

Or maybe you meant, they can't control us as well?