Laura Baigorri on Sun, 1 Dec 2002 16:10:02 +0100 (CET) |
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Re: [nettime-lat] Cyber-Rights Activists Log a Win in Spain |
Y aquí en español http://www.lasindias.com/articulos/gallardon_noviembre_2.html Ciberpunk http://www.ciberpunk.com/ Laura Baigorri ricardo dominguez wrote: > Cyber-Rights Activists Log a Win > > By Michelle Delio > > http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,56577,00.html > > 02:00 AM Nov. 26, 2002 PT > > A small group of Spanish cyberpunks may have saved their country's Internet > cafes from being branded as gambling dens. > > The cyberpunks, who gather at the site Ciberpunk, organized protests after > discovering that that Alberto Ruiz Gallardón, president of the Community of > Madrid, had proposed a law that would classify Madrid's cybercafes as > casinos. > > If the law had passed, minors would not have been allowed in cybercafes, > from which roughly 20 percent of Spain's young Internet users connect to the > Internet. > > Activists also feared that stricter government oversight and zoning laws for > casinos would put Internet cafes out of business, which happened in northern > Spain after a similar law was passed there. > > The cyberpunks organized their protests despite their conviction that > Gallardón's law would pass. > > Previous movements to protect Spanish Internet users' rights had little > impact on politicians. In October, the country passed a law requiring all > commercial websites to register with the government. > > Spain has also been affected by controversial European Union laws that ban > "hate speech" sites. Activists are closely watching how recent rulings > limiting deep linking play out across Europe. > > But late last week, Gallardón announced he'd decided against supporting the > law, an action widely reported in Spanish newspapers as a win for the > cyberpunks, who credit their victory to Internet-facilitated communications > and getting non-Net users involved. > > "The Internet is still a strange land to our politicians, who are not used > to facing such an immediate reaction," said activist David de Ugarte. "An > unexpected threat for them, that's what we were. And it worked!" > > De Ugarte said he was "shocked and shamed" when he first heard about the > proposed law. > > "In Spain, the example of Madrid and its regional government is as important > as New York's or California's would be in the U.S.A.," de Ugarte explained. > "Closing cybercafes in Madrid could be the first step to do it nationwide. > The consequences were predictable: No extension of the Net in the next > generation." > > When David Teira, an assistant professor of philosophy at the Universidad > Europea de Madrid, heard about Gallardón's proposal he too was "completely > discouraged." > > Teira said all instructors at the university are engaged in a "daily > struggle" to introduce their students to the Internet. They worried the law > would provide a greater barrier to student Net access. > > So Teira posted a call to action on the Ciberpunk site. > > His plan: Use the Internet to rally supporters, who would then go > door-to-door to explain to non-Net users "how our politicians were closing > the future for the next generation and even for us," explained de Ugarte, > who started the Ciberpunk site six years ago. > > The group discovered that Gallardón had dropped the law when a newspaper > journalist phoned Ciberpunk press officer Natalia Fernadez and asked for a > comment on the group's success. > > "Natalia collapsed and then apologized to the journalist for not having an > answer," Teira said. "Winning was not in our plans! So, we only had prepared > the B plan. No victory speech had been written." > > "After I recovered from the shock, I communicated the news to everybody," > Fernandez said. "We had a meeting by Yahoo Messenger to (decide) what to do. > It was a delicious moment." > > Tiera said the group had already learned that online-only protests aren't > effective. > > "The cyber-rights movement is not politically important when it expresses > itself only through the Net," he said. "But it can affect the national > agenda if we address our messages to ordinary people, and we do it in the > real world, door by door and face to face." > > _______________________________________________ > Nettime-lat mailing list > Nettime-lat@nettime.org > http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-lat _______________________________________________ Nettime-lat mailing list Nettime-lat@nettime.org http://amsterdam.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-lat