Hackers strike at anti-piracy ministers

Activists belonging to the amorphous hacking group Anonymous have published the personal details of Culture Minister José Ignacio Wert, along with those of his predecessor, Ángeles González-Sinde, and producers, filmmakers and actors who support recently passed anti-piracy legislation.

At the beginning of January, the Spanish government passed legislation aimed at cracking down on websites that illegally share digital content. Dubbed the Sinde Law, after the former culture minister, it will create a new government commission to which Spanish copyright-holders can appeal when they feel a site is illegally distributing their content.

The commission will receive complaints from artists who say their content has been used without permission. Complainants must meet certain requirements, such as identifying the owners of the site where the copyright infringement is occurring and must present the content and links that are infringing their copyright.

The owners of the websites can present a defense before the commission within a three-day deadline to justify their activities. After a resolution of removal from the commission, internet service providers (ISPs) will have 24 hours to block the service or remove the content. The website owners will not be able to appeal. If website owners fail to remove content voluntarily, a court (not the commission) will intervene to close down the website or block the service, requiring ISPs to reveal the identity of the infringers.

The entire process should take no more than 10 days, says the government. Open internet activists have voiced concerns about the breadth and implications of the law. Much of the new legislation is taken from the SOPA Act (Stop Online Piracy Act) making its way through the US Congress. Unlike SOPA, which targets infringing websites and users, the Sinde Law focuses only on those who are making money from copyrighted content online.