From the Upaya Newsletter:

You are perfect just as you are. And you could use a little improvement.
– Suzuki-Roshi

Both true. At the same time. He had a way with words.
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Pressure Grows on Spain to Curb Digital Piracy – NYTimes.com
For the third year running, the American trade representative has included Spain on its watch list of countries that breach intellectual property rights because of its “particularly significant Internet piracy.”

Critics say it will be extremely difficult to stop illegal downloading in Spain because of the popularity of these Web sites and a perceived indifference to piracy as a crime. As many as three billion illegal downloads were made last year in Spain, far exceeding the 21 million legal downloads, according to a study by Cimec, a Spanish market research company.

Well, OK, if illegal download sites are popular then there is nothing one can do… What???

But Victor Domingo, president of the Spanish Internet Users Association, said the group would go as high as Spain’s constitutional court to fight any legislation that curtailed access. (((he comments on the French law under which illegal file sharers who ignore two written warnings to stop could face the loss of their Internet connection)))

“The government is putting authors’ rights, which are of course important, on the same level as much more fundamental rights of privacy and freedom of expression,” Mr. Domingo said. “It has cost us a lot in this country after 40 years of dictatorship to acquire such rights for our citizens, but now we risk losing them.”

There is so much wrong with this statement. First of all, we can already observe the erosion of Spanish culture in that there are already less Spanish artists in the album charts:

Global music industry in numbers | Business | guardian.co.uk
• In Spain, in 2009 no new Spanish artist featured in the top 50 album charts, compared with 10 in 2003. Overall, unit sales of Spanish artists’ albums fell by an estimated 65% between 2004 and 2009.

Then there is the comparison of authors rights with freedom of expression. Stealing in not an expression that needs protection.

We will observe what will happen to the Spanish culture in the coming decade. I don’t see a happy ending for local culture, but why am I being so negative… they’ll have Lady Gaga instead.