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Spanish Web Sites Go Blank To Protest New Rules
Diver777 writes "New tough rules for websites in Spain have caused at least 300 websites to go blank in protest. The new rules call for any site which generates revenue to register with the government. The law would also apply to foreign-hosted Web sites if the people transacting business on them are physically in Spain. Get the Yahoo story here."
Businesses have to register all over the world so that consumers' rights can be protected and taxes can be collected.
Why do Spanish commercial website owners feel that they are different?
The reason for protest in Spain is the lack of a real enforcing government there. The whole country is one good ol' boys network, and very few crimes such as tax evasion get reported. Thus, the people in Spain see it as a drastic measure to have to register a business/website. It's very hard to understand another culture, but my many years of teaching in Spain can qualify me somewhat to explain this.
Last time I checked the laws in my hometown on eastersn Long Island, you have to inform local authorities that you are having a yard sale, and if you hold a yard sale on more than 2 days a year(consecutive or non-consecutive) it isn't a yard sale anymore, it's a business and you do have to pay taxes etc.
just how are they going to planning on collecting taxes from people outside their country?
wait, I know. they're going to use some guys in some snazzy red uniforms, whose chief weapons are fear, suprise, an almost fanatical devotion to the pope and....
The World's Worst Webcomic!
I live in Spain, and the article on Yahoo is funny, but inaccurate.
Any Spain-based Web site that engages in commerce - even a struggling Egyptology site - must now register with the government
It's more broad. Any service provider that receives money in exchange for its services is bound by the law. It includes ISPs, hosting companies, bandwidth companies, search engines, web caches and, yes, websites. The provider does not have to be Spain-based, just to sell something to Spaniards is enough to be bound.
The tough rules have prompted at least 300 Web site owners to take their pages offline in protest
Rules aren't tough. The provider must include some up-to-date information about itself in its own web pages (physical address, email address, web domain names used to sell, services offered, prices and shipping charges, etc...), for the government to read it whenever it pleases. This is just the kind of information scammers and con artists hate to give, and that's the rationale. It mandates no fees just for existing out there, just fines if you don't comply and get caught.
"This law is a huge blow to freedom of expression in Spain," said Kriptopolis lawyer Carlos Sanchez Almeida.
Obviously the above has nothing to do with freedom of expression, since it applies only to providers which receive monies in exchange for goods and services. Carlos complains about another provision: judges can order any service provider to shut down or block any service deemed against the law. See below.
The statute goes even further. It says that if Spanish authorities deem something on a foreign-hosted Web site threatening to Spain's national defence, public order, consumer rights or other values, they can order Spanish operators to sever access to that site.
That clause puts Spain in the same league of content control as Saudi Arabia and China, said Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard Law School expert on international Internet regulation.
Mr. Zittrain is misinformed, no doubt, because the law clearly states that only judges can do that, and government officials cannot. Since a judge is empowered to shut down anything that is positively against the law, I wonder where is the surprise. That's their job.
He said the law will discourage people from creating Web sites simply because a subject interests them and they want to share their knowledge.
Nonsense.
But Perez has problems with other elements of the law, such as the requirement that access providers save information on pages their customers visit.
Yes, a maximum of one year of log files should be kept in secure storage by the provider, for access only to law enforcement with a search warrant.
"What is this going to cause?" Sanchez Almeida asked rhetorically. "Censorship."
Nonsense again.
And finally, the most important paragraph in the law, which the article curiously does not mention. Here it is (in Spanish):
Queda prohibido el envío de comunicaciones publicitarias o promocionales por correo electrónico u otro medio de comunicación electrónica equivalente que previamente no hubieran sido solicitadas o expresamente autorizadas por los destinatarios de las mismas.
In other words: spam is banned (YahooooOOOO!). Only opt-in is allowed.
since, technically, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
que no es poco.
[You aren't likely to get the full impact of that reference if you aren't Spanish, but you might understand my meaning after you see this -- a movie every Spanish citizen should see.]
Bueno, creo que con mencionar la peli ya queda dicho todo.
That has got to be one of the most moronic laws I've ever heard of. Sounds like your state has a serious case of over-legislation. Just a few goosesteps to barcoding the residents, I guess.
A sufficiently advanced culture would leave almost no trace of it's existence when it was gone.....
they should make this law worldwide m8 its great whats wrong with telling people who u r???