Obama Wants Spain to Ban BitTorrent Sites
Written by enigmax on May 07, 2009Every year the United States releases the Special 301 Report, which examines the intellectual property laws of important trading partners. One of the countries heavily criticized in the 2009 edition is Spain – largely because it views file-sharing for personal use and non-commercial BitTorrent and file-sharing sites as legal. Obama wants to change all that.
In recent months we’ve reported several times how Spanish courts have ruled that not only is personal use file-sharing legal in Spain, but file-sharing sites that do not directly profit from infringement are also protected under the law. This allowed the admins of sites like Sharemula to walk away from legal action without a scratch.
Of course, as far as the United States and its piracy watch-lists go, this is an unacceptable situation and one which needs to be changed as quickly as possible.
According to the United States, Spain has one of the worst file-sharing “problems” in the world. The US claims it is consistently among the top five worst countries in terms of overall downloads and that it regularly takes the top position for movie downloads per capita. The MPA(A), who can hardly be trusted to report unbiased stats, says movie downloads by Spanish citizens reached 350 million in 2008.
While video game publishers claim that 50 million games were downloaded illegally last year, it is the music industry that says it suffers most from file-sharing in Spain, claiming that users downloaded around 2 billion tracks in 2008, up 80% compared to 2007. This is blamed mainly on BitTorrent and eDonkey sharing, but there was also a reported increase in sharing via Rapidshare-like file-hosting sites. According to figures cited by the report, 67% of all Spanish Internet users download unauthorized content, raising to 81% in the under 24 years old group.
Of course, the Spanish authorities have taken action against various torrent and sharing sites in the past, but because of Spain’s laws, the prosecution has failed to gain any significant convictions – the admins, as in the case of Sharemula, simply walk. Under Spanish law there is no infringement and this situation, says the US, means that rights holders don’t have the weaponry to go after ‘infringers’. Obama wants to change all that.
The US charges that the Spanish government has done little “to change the widespread misperception in Spain that peer-to-peer file sharing is legal,” referring to the 2006 “decriminalization” notification from the Office of the Prosecutor-General as “problematic”.
Of course, no article on bringing in tougher restrictions on file-sharing would be complete without the obligatory calls for pirates to be disconnected, and the Special 301 Report doesn’t disappoint. The United States says that part of Spain’s “priority action” should include an agreement between ISPs and copyright holders to prevent infringing content being available on the Internet and should include “the immediate and effective implementation of graduated response [3 strikes] procedures.”
If the law doesn’t currently allow such action, the US advises Spain it should takes steps to change it, including rescinding the Chief Prosecutor’s May 2006 official instruction that effectively decriminalized file-sharing.
Previously: EU Rejects Three-Strikes Legislation, For Good
Next: TV Exec Fired for Opposing Anti-Piracy law
303 Responses
Bloody typical…..
O-baaaaa Ma
You govern America Obama…NOT THE WORLD…KEEP YA NOSE OUT.
hope Spain tells Obama to ‘f–k off’ in no uncertain terms!! should have more pressing problems to sort out in his own country, let alone anywhere else! didn’t take long to start doing the bidding of riaa etc. wonder how much he was paid?
Why is everyone so surprised, Intellectual property is one of the few profitable industries US has left, alongside Cheap Junkfood and national sports, that’s about it.
So if you want to bankrupt US – Download, Share, crack etc.
You didn’t say much about Obama’s view so the title is a bit misplaced. Still though, i do hate him…
usa world police? f*ck you
So sick of this, happens to often. Great Job Obama.
Naughty Americanos, you take your sillee law and go to hell hombre, or we put you in da ring with one of our bulls, you can tell him your problem, I’m sure de bull will listen and have pointed counter arguments, make sure you’re dressed in red, the bulls like that, si sehnor…
I hope Mr. Obama is not educated upon Bittorrent by MPAA.
and we were hoping things would be different under obama
I hope Mr. Obama is not educated on Bittorrent by MPAA.
obama kiss my ass… DUDE there are so many other problems there are millons of ppl dying of hunger and so many countries have dictators change that u ass(obama)……….
spain wants obama to fork himself
I cannot stand how the united states tries to govern the world. This just proves to me more how backwards ass our government really is. I think its time to move out of this sh*t hole of a country. And no, not all Americans believe nor support United States decisions so don’t generalize.
@ 4 racist
He thinks he’s the leader of the world or what?
Obama, just another filthy capitalist.
Why do the Europe don’t make a 302 rapport on USA an accusing them that they have to much weapons on the streets.
And telling them that Obama should close downs some of this thousend of Weapons shops and Weapons Industries around the USA.
Or is he to scarry to try to fight whit the Weapons Industry???
Go and F**k U USA, clean up your oven shit first stupid di*ks, before you try to blame other countrys!!!
Dude i’m so tired of theres WORLD POLICE PROPAGANDA!!
I seriously doubt Obama even knows this document exists or that he had anything to do with it. I guess using ‘Obama’ in the title gets more attention, but it would have been much more accurate to say ‘US Government’.
America always fucks with other countries, just because the american law is messed up there is no need to screw everyone else over.
cannot access thepiratebay thru Australian ISP, telstra (Bigpond).
ANyone else experiencing this issue?
Just be patient… When the shit keeps hitting the fan like it is doing today, Obama will get on his knees and ask Europe for help.
Prioritize dude! There are people starving in your ‘the world richest’ country, do something about that!
God Damn it Obama! I knew I should have voted for Colbert. This is why we need a good piracy party instead of one that just sites on its ass.
The current Spanish government is already losing the voters’ confidence due to the crisis. Also, the European elections are getting closer, and many people has already decided not to vote the PSOE. Will they want to take such an impopular decision? Will they obey Obama (what a pity, Obie, you were so promising) and so lose the 2012 elections, too?
What’s weird is that a) three strikes is not active in the US, so how can they expect to force it on a different country? and b) thanks to the Citizens Rights, 3 strikes is actually illegal in Spain as long as it remains in the EU.
Fuck the US lobbies!. Here we already pay a lot with the “canon” when we buy mobiles, HDs, CDs, DVDs… you name it. And we have the worst ADSL in the world.
So, Obama, go fix Afghanistan & Iraq and leave us the fuck alone!.
OBAMA: HOPE FOR THE BEST, EXPECT THE WORST
Who do you think you are? :X
We can critize your country (US of A(ss) for much more than stupid copyright infringements :@:@..
Matthew’s Opinion
I am surprised that Mininova have implemented such a system before the trial has begun as it shows that something could be done to limit which torrents appear in searches. BREIN may still continue with the court case to ensure the filtering system is enforced, but Mininova is surely set to see a massive drop in the amount of users taking advantage of its service.
This could also spell bad news for The Pirate Bay. Even if they do get a retrial Mininova’s move to implement a filtering system gives the entertainment industry an example of what can be done to stop copyright files being searched for. Any new trial will surely have that as a new piece of evidence as to why The Pirate Bay needs to change.
With the filtering system being monitored and updated by a third-party any copyright infringing searches that make it to Mininova’s search results are no longer Mininova’s fault and they should not be targeted again by the entertainment industry. Users may start finding ways around the content filtering, but if they do, that’s the problem of the entity in charge of the filtering and not Mininova.
http://www.geek.com/articles/news/mininova-starts-filtering-torrents-for-copyright-material-2009057/
@15
Why not restore your constitution and do what your founding fathers encouraged? (IE: Wiping the system clean every few years).
Either you clean up your country or it’s Fabian Socialism. Choose!
solve your own problems, obama!
cant hold it back…f*uck you obama!
America is a great country, to bad our leaders destroy our image and make horrible decisions. Obama can suck a fat one. Congrats first black president (kinda) yaaaa! now get him the hell out..
surely the rest of the world wants the U.S presidents to but out of thier countrys to but that doesnt happen!!!
Oh brilliant Obama is all for change but still fails to realise that US LAW DOES NOT APPLY TO THE WORLD
thank you. THat’s what the industries are trying to do. UNfortunately US laws do not apply anywhere else but on that same country, but some people, (maybe even the great president of that gloomy territory) might not know that either. That’s a good thing and a bad thing since most politicians of the Disjointed States of north America go to other countries, murder a whole lot of people and then they say they can’t be charged here for having commited that cryme. There’s a lot to solve in the US why is the government worrying about things they shouldn’t?
I heard Spain has some tasty chicken.
Fcuk u Obama!!!
We thot u were THE change.
Now we know, you are just a black dick.
this is why the rest of the world hates america. sticking their nose in everyone elses business
Mr Obama needs Geography lesson, Spain is not part part of United States of America. I am not surprised, he is American after all.
Well you people wanted “change” *smirk* you got it!
Why does the article’s title says “Obama wants…” and yet the article fails to reference any sort of quote from Obama?
This seems a bit too needlessly sensational and to be respectable.
I think I’m going to start visiting elsewhere for my torrent-related news.
Obama, please focus on fixing the economy, the domestic policy of the USA and the withdrawal of US and Nato troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Filesharing should be the lowest of all your priorities and hope you act on the promises of your campaign
I don’t believe obama is after that, he is a progresist, if so i’m very dissapointed, we need to create a us version of piratbyran.
i thought he said in his campaign he wanted more internet freedom?? bullshit!
Yesterday a congressman was telling the committee that they should be concentrating on bigger issues at home instead of sorting other peoples problems out. Seems the MPAA have the ear of the president more than the committee.
Don’t worry US Of A your not alone! The UK is just as bad!
when i actually hear this from obama’s own mouth then its all some idiot blowing this out of proportion and saying its obama that wants this, when its actually some other idiot high up in the goverment that wants to do this and works with the mpaa trying to get more money suing admins of sites cause they think they won with the tpb trial.
F**K YOU ALL, I WAS NICE WHEN I WAS NEEDED VOTE.
NOW I AM MR.PRESIDENT!
I AM GONNA F*CK BITTORRENT AND YOU ALL!!!
‘The US charges that the Spanish government has done little “to change the widespread misperception in Spain that peer-to-peer file sharing is legal,”’
Ummm… Peer to peer file sharing IS legal
ofcourse, no president of usa will ever be independent from strong economic interests… sadly, but true.
still obama is better than bush..
America! Fuck Yeah! Here to save the motherfuckin’ day yeah!
OBAMA
GET
THE
F*CK
OUT
please, concentrate on getting your head off your ass, thnx.
And what makes Obama think that Spain cares about the opinion of the government of a country that is half run by private organisations?
Calm down people … this 301 report is a media conglomerate propaganda paper that always counts the most ridiculous things. Why should the Spaniards care what the US president wants? They have other problems. Other than that … not News. Torrent will keep going even w/o big sites … who cares what “they” say? Who cared ever?
F*CK Mr Obama…stay out of my business you sh*thead liberal
‘ Change is coming ‘ ………..
Yeah right !
Thanks for the change dickhead !
It would have been better if you would have spent a little time urself understanding the technology and the how communities work rather than attending a ‘ Perils of Bittorrent ‘ session with RIAA.
@ 37
“he is American after all”
I ‘m still waiting for the definitive proof of that :P
see Obama yes we can
mpaa/riaa puppet is now showing his true colours see others are pulling his strings bush all over again
I hope spain just lols and carries on as usual.
if you look at pretty much 90% of everything hes done since he got into office, its to appease the copyright lobbyists. obama is a tool of the industry.
NO, Obama, YOU CAN’T!!!
Man, Obama is a very big liar.
He is even good as a republican president.
I hope next time Americans vote not for democrats or republicans, because they are all bad and suck.
This just another blatant example of the US of A’s self created manifested destiny “that were right and everyone else is WRONG, we tell you what to do and damn well you do it.” F**k I’ve never said this before but I hope Prez O get out of office with a bullet.
Bad Obama! Bad bad! Sit sit! Who’s a bad dog? Who’s a bad dog? Woof woof
If the majority of european countries decides that the american trading partnership is abusive, and break relations with the US, we would witness the fall-down of a dark empire. It may seem sci-fi but the basic idea is that this request is injust and totally uncalled for. America cannot live without Europe and vice-versa. It’s like a freakin’ symbiosis.
@#60
This is more truer than most people realize.
F*CK YOU OBAMA! You own America, not the world!
Swedes liked Obama, now we know where he stands. Better than Bush, much better in fact. However, messing around with filesharing… Not acceptable. ;)
This is what a can happen when folks understand what the internet can do for music, and have embraced it. look and learn RIAA, but then you’re just greedy incompetents aren’t you.
http://www.sellaband.com/
Send me an Obama quote or shut up.
the article does not quote obama saying anything of the sort that spain needs to stop filesharing, did anyone else bother to notice this? what #60 said is true thats why he went to visit the queen.
I think he wants to change a little bit too much now… And seeing as he changed nothing so far makes this ‘request’ to Spain stupid.
It’s not surprising that Spain has held two fingers up at the rest of the world regarding file sharing.
The Spanish government regularly ignores European rules imposed by the EU they consider not in their citizens interests.
The UK should take a leaf out of their book in my opinion.
@66
lol..yeah he gave her an iPod and you just know that she’ll be removing that DRM sh*t hahaha
Everyone thought that Obama would be this great bastion of change, but he is no different then any other politician. All politicians cave into the special interest groups and big business here in America. Also what power does the American President actually have? Most of the power has been given to congress and we know how congress votes. They vote with their wallets.
The US likes to throw it’s weight around and try to bully the rest of the world from it’s pulpit. It’s happened before through the world. However it was less noticeable before the explosion of the Internet.
Joe Biden is poison..
Surely Mr. Obama is fully aware of the real and more serious crimes and problems that are going on in his country. Perhaps he should focus more on those issues first.
I would also imagine that there are also real and more serious crimes that are going on globally. He should also focus on those secondly.
He should not focus his efforts on things that really do not concern him. That would be, the technology that allows the free sharing of legal and non-copyright information.
It sounds like the RIAA/MPAA are controlling him and pulling the strings of the President and/or one of his advisers and controlling them like a puppet. If it’s this easy for the President of the United States or his adviser(s) to be controlled this easily by a group that is misaligned and bent on their own selfish financial needs, something is seriously wrong with those that he keeps close to him.
The President and his advisers need to educate themselves on the benefits of Bit torrent technology instead of believing the one sided beliefs of an industry that wants to stifle and control every single 0 and 1 that flows through the internet.
This is a sign that there is a serious security risk to the President. He needs to wake up before some other puppeteer manipulates and exploits the most powerful in the world.
Wake up Mr. President. You are being controlled.
@#70
Perhaps it is time that the current form of the American government be torn down and replaced with something that is more benefiting for the american population at large, not just the special interest groups or the few people/businesses that can easily bring money to the government in its current form.
So, wait, let’s see..
The NATO Task Force arrests Somali pirates, people who kidnap, steal, gun down people, murder, etc etc. What happens next? Oh, yeah, they get released. No charge, no punishment, nothing, a couple meals and nights in a warm bed then put them ashore.
Police arrest people who have harmed noone, but do share ‘copyrighted’ material with others. Oh, then their ISP is forced to cut off their internet, they get a charge, and possibly convictions of several years.
Anyone see the irony here?
*waits for ‘War on Piracy’, which will involve zero real pirate scumbags, but a lot of innocent people sharing files being murdered, illegally detained, and their property destroyed*
#19 is probably correct. I’d be surprised if Obama even knew anything about this before it went to print. He’s got much bigger fish to fry at this point to concern himself with file sharing.
Obama has done well so far, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
You guys act like the EU doesn’t do the same type of things to the rest of the world.
@63 – William:
We danes agree :)
Unfortunatly, it’s obviuos that Obama “signed a deal” with the devil (Hollywood/MPAA) to get elected, and now he pays back the favor.
Many rightfully point out this has no direct link to Obama, but is merely using his name to make a point, but many other reports & articles indeed suggest that Obama is playing hardboiled towards copyright infringement, and do the MAFIAA’s bidding…sadly:
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/03/23/obamas-pro-copyright-industry-department-justice-sides-riaas-150-000-song-penalty
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/obama-keep-fill/
@63 – William:
We danes agree :)
Unfortunatly, it’s obviuos that Obama “signed a deal” with the devil (Hollywood/MPAA) to get elected, and now he pays back the favor.
Many rightfully point out this has no direct link to Obama, but is merely using his name to make a point, but many other reports & articles indeed suggest that Obama is playing hardboiled towards copyright infringement, and do the MAFIAA’s bidding…sadly:
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/03/23/obamas-pro-copyright-industry-department-justice-sides-riaas-150-000-song-penalty
Won’t have an effect on spain….
another link:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/obama-keep-fill/
to those who voted for Obama, regret it now???
@72 – riaatard:
Well said!!
CHAAAAAAANGE!!!!
Nice to see all those who thought Obama was the next Jesus and who also thought that he was on their side on net neutrality and copyright reform are now looking like the complete idiots. More of the same, more of the same, more of the same. Here’s to another 4 years of war and globalism thanks mainly to moronic Americans who wouldn’t know free thought if it took one of their guns and shot them with it.
The U.S. is not a monarchy, I seriously doubt Obama actually had any direct involvement in this report.
I loved his ‘change’ campaign.
It doesn’t imply it’s change for the better though. :P I would really appreciate if the US stops poking it’s nose into every single country in the world though.
The USA exerting its influence on countries it has no business in. Big surprise! I was hoping that Obama would change all that – evidently it remains the same.
Obama recently stated that he’s concerned that Canada is a safe haven for pirated DVDs and that Canadian laws are causing the mass influx of pirated materials into the US. Yes, blame Canada! It’s ridiculous – as if the US itself has no responsibility. Deflect, deflect, deflect.
Then again, I can see why the US wants to meddle in everyone elses affairs. I mean things are so rosy and perfect in the US that their belief the world should use them as their role model is justified. (laugh) Things are such a mess in the US right now, Obama should worry more about what’s going on in his own country instead of what’s happening in everyone elses.
Especially when it’s minor stuff like file sharing.
Massive deficit, unemployment rates… no wait, FILE SHARING in SPAIN should be our focus!
Obama,mpaa,riaa…
I’m sorry but you can not win!
when the law violates the freedom of the people then the people in violation of the law.
Obama,mpaa,riaa…
I’m sorry but you can not win!
when the law violates the freedom of the people then the people in violation of the law.
Resistance!
I always did, and still do laugh at all the morons who saw Abama’s coming into power as change for the better.
You really don’t get how the world works, go and educate yourself, open your mind. Good luck.
Good post #72 “riaatard.” I think the key is that Obama is basically at the mercy of his advisors (and sadly the lobbyist). They are feeding him the lie that 1 “illegal” download = 1 lost sale = 2 Billions of $$ that may have gone into the US economy. Perhaps we fellow Americans need to set him and his administration right.
U guys ever see TEAM AMERICA WORLD POLICE now thats what the USA is acting like
he probably hasnt even seen the report. how come anything the americans do at the moment is reported as ‘obama does/says…’
he must be a busy feckin fellow, the amount he gets done each day. i mean with all the time he is devoting to spains piracy problem, its a wonder he has time for anything else at all.
linking a story to obama sexes it up, generates more hits etc. the reality of this is that whichever department is responsible for the report issued the report the same as they have for the last few years.
dont forget, filesharing has only really been as issue while monkey boy was prez, now we have a sane dude in charge, maybe things will get better rather than worse.
there are whispers in the wind regarding the classification of cannabis so anything could happen.
His name is Ma-obama
Screw the obama , he’s just one another US President not more
@73
As Thomas Jefferson once said “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” This is one of the tenets our country was supposedly founded upon. However today when we try to voice our dissent we are labeled anarchists, terrorists, and trouble makers.
When the American public voted for Obama they thought they were voting for change. I told everyone who would listen to me that change doesn’t come from within. That change must be affected from the bottom up. It starts with families on the streets and rises up.
The American people have become lethargic and apathetic. Many do what they must to survive and no more then is required of them. They are happy with the status quo. However, when those of us who fight for change decide to make ourselves heard those same apathetic Americans fall in line with their leaders and call us terrorists.
It’s a shame what has become of this country, no this world I should say. We allow others to make out decisions for us and follow lock step in line. It truly is time for a revolution.
Well…this is one time that TorrentFreak doesn’t know what the hell it is talking about.
Obama had nothing to do with this as the Special 301 Report is part of the Uraguay Round Agreements which was amended and signed into U.S. law back in 1994 under then President Bill Clinton.
Specifically, it is:
H.R.5110
January 25, 1994.
Special Report 301 is an ANNUAL report which is prepared by the International Trade Commission.
It is independent of anything Obama might wish and has absolutely nothing at all to do with him.
Special Report 301 falls under this part of the Act:
TITLE III–ADDITIONAL IMPLEMENTATION OF AGREEMENTS
Subtitle A–Safeguards
Sec. 301. Investigation, determinations, and recommendations by International Trade Commission.
You can read the Act for yourself here:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=103_cong_bills&docid=f:h5110enr.pdf
Page 124 is where Title III begins.
TorrentFreak needs to change the headline to this article as it is not just false (a lie), it is also inflammatory in nature as you can see from all the comments here coming from dimwits who believe this swill as being the truth.
Shame on TorrentFreak and enigmax!
Huh? Where’s it say Obama has anything to do with this?
Did I miss that part?
Obama was elected because he had the support of the younger generation. It will be interesting to see if he gets elected again if he keeps pulling shit like this.
This is Europe.
Stay the fvck on your side of the sea. We don’t like you toting guns, polluting the planet more than any other nation and basically dictating your sh1t to everyone else, but little good does not liking something do apparently.
Same applies to you, turdface. GTFO out of my europes.
i knew it, obama is a cyberterrorist.
I’m removing torrentfreak from my bookmark now. How can you spread such blatant lie and misinformation?
Shame on you.
@#100
Are you saying that you agree with me then at the very least with the situation of the government of america
#94 has it exactly right.
Obama just doesn’t have anything to do with this Report. I’m not interested in defending his presidency, because I think he’s made some mistakes, but this isn’t one of them. He didn’t initiate or appoint the members of the the ITC, and there is no reason to presume that they represent his views on the issue.
With most of the political failure on this issue coming from inside the US, it’s very important to try and understand the tangled web of legislators, private interests, and politics that is involved. The US political system is a mess. It’s important that we take the extra effort to understand who exactly we are fighting against, who is on our side, and who is not involved at all.
It’s disappointing that TF would run this headline, because it shows that you don’t really understand where to direct the energy of the movement; and you run the risk of alienating politicians who could become help us, by prematurely assigning them to the other team.
@27 GTFO my internets… so censoring my internet, taking away my freedom is right? Die in a fire…
Obama, first focus on the problems in YOUR country.
After that you can try what Bush did, world domination.
Until then everything else you try to do means nothing. Stay where you are and dont be so coky so soon.
Spain has neither oil nor drugs worth taking, so there won’t be US troops anytime soon, and Spaniards can simply ignore US, er, MAFIAA orders. Though someone may imagine that there’s WMD and go hang Berlusconi who’s too much into girls that are 50 years younger than him…
What the hell?
I’m sure this has been said dozens of times here now, but:
What authority does he have to change how another nation works?
If you ask me, the US should be changing its laws to mirror Spain’s, not the other way around.
“67% of all Spanish Internet users download unauthorized content, raising to 81% in the under 24 years old group.”
bad grammer? (raising)
A little further research shows that the report is actually released by the IIPA, which is an *entirely private sector* organization.
Here is some information about the people who you need to be directing your energy towards:
The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) is a private sector coalition formed in 1984 to represent the U.S. copyright-based industries in bilateral and multilateral efforts to improve international protection of copyrighted materials. IIPA is comprised of seven trade associations, each representing a significant segment of the U.S. copyright community.
Please, oh please don’t you dare criticize our precious Obama. How dare you! I will never visit TorrentFreak again. /sarcasm
Obama apologists are hilarious. He can do no wrong to them.
Americans did not want to vote for anyone else but OBushma and McBush.
TO ALL WHO:! Think that Obama have nothing to do whit this 301 report.
You MY have RIGHT, and I believe this!!
BUT!!
For FU** sake, HE IS THE FU** PRESIDENT of his country, and IT IS HIS DUTY to know what others IN HIS GOVERNMENT under HIM are DOING, when they using HIS NAME in some kind of statments.
So please DON’T TELL me that he is innocent in this case.
He is in CHARGE HERE, he is sitting behind the steering wheel of the Bus, and it is his HEAD on the block that will FALL if he can’t control his government.
Technically ‘Obama’ should be replaced with ‘Obama Administration’. But keep in mind who appointed the administration – Obama. He should be responsible for the actions of his administration, so I feel the reporting is fair and accurate. Actions speak louder than words – Obama claimed he wanted to create jobs and so far only has caused the loss of 2000 more. He claims he wants to reduce government waste, well this report is a good place to start.
#115, you don’t get it. This was a report released by a *private* coalition.
Obama had nothing to do with it. You can slam him all you want for the things he has done, and I will likely agree with you.
I just think that this kind of confusion is only beneficial to the people who *are* trying to censor us. As long as you’re railing on Obama, who really has no authority at all to affect the laws in question, you are letting the real culprits do whatever they want in the shadows.
#115 May 07, 2009 at 20:06 by Republicrats wrote:
Please, oh please don’t you dare criticize our precious Obama. How dare you! I will never visit TorrentFreak again. /sarcasm
Obama apologists are hilarious. He can do no wrong to them
=-=-=-=-=
The fact that the article’s headline is a blatant lie has nothing to do with any alleged “Obama apologists.”
In this particular case, Obama couldn’t have done any “wrong” as you call it because he actually didn’t.
This article’s headline would be similar to writing, “Obama wants nuclear weapons” based upon the fact that we already have them and have had them since long before he was even born.
I understand the need for TorrentFreak to be biased in favor of things related to filesharing, but in this case they’ve simply let their brains fall out of their ass and roll across the floor to gather whatever lint and detritus happens to be there and then blame it on someone in the next room.
Mentioning Obama in the headline is just as absurd as the above scenario and only serves as an example of gutter journalism of the worst kind.
If that’s what enigmax was after, then congratulations are in order because he succeeded.
@ 114 May 07, 2009 at 20:05 by Christopher
Maybe you should have done more research:
‘The “Special 301” Report is an annual review of the global state of intellectual property rights
(IPR) protection and enforcement, conducted by the Office of the United States Trade
Representative (USTR) pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974′
This is the essence of bad journalism.
Change Obama.
:-P
@ 119 May 07, 2009 at 20:17 by Christopher
The USTR is a government agency and according to their website are ‘America’s chief trade negotiator and principal advisor to the president’.
So please get your facts straight.
Obama, I am glad I did not vote for you, but shit like this makes me embarrassed to be known as an American.
Look guys, the point is that Obama DID pick the people that signed off on it. The report was made by a government agency (USTR). And ‘Obama’ just needs to be replaced by ‘Obama Administration’ for the article to be indisputable. The only argument that protects Obama at this point is that, ‘Obama doesn’t know what his administration is doing.’ Well, that may be, but then that looks like an even worse problem to me.
Mother Fuck Obama, Spain is not part of the US last time i checked.. what a halfwit!
I did check my facts. The USTR releases the report to the president. The report is made up of information submitted to the USTR by several other agencies. The section in question was prepared by the IIPA.
See:
http://www.iipa.com/2009_SPEC301_TOC.htm
@ 113
That would be ‘grammar’….what a fool you are. I fooking love irony, don’t you?
Yeah that Obama hes a freakin nuisance
#127 – Christopher
Your facts are accurate.
TorrentFreak’s are not.
Obama makes me laugh. “to change the widespread misperception in Spain that peer-to-peer file sharing is legal”
this “misperception”, mr. president, is the future. p2p WILL BE legal FOREVER, everywhere, and soon i might add. go wage a war in the middle east or something.
Man. Fuck Obama. Ron Paul was my guy…
Spain should stand up for themselves and not let the U.S. tell them what to do. European legislature has become more liberal towards file sharing in general, while having still some conservative problems. Spain is in Europe not North America, so they’re closer to good guys. It’s not the U.S.’s right to tell other countries what laws to have, yet our government does it all the time.
I’ve got to get out of this country. America is not the land of the free, anymore. That started to change after WWI.
Obama is the 44th president. Snakes have no arm pits.
Vice President Joe Biden [Maafia stooge / lackey] will use any instance to further his status quo within the lobbyist circles. As already proven by:
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/16814
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/20866
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/20263
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/18844
Now the US Governement is making the same non-sensical statements.
“to change the widespread misperception in Spain that peer-to-peer file sharing is legal,”
In Spain it is legal….
Maybe someone in a large truck ought to go drive on the wrong side of the road in the US and when an accident occurs, point out that its illegal to drive on the other side in the UK ?
According to MPA(A) 1 Movie EQ 4 GB
I don’t know about songs, but games usually tends to have a 4 GB file size as well, seems to be what BSA likes anyway.
So lets say 1 Song EQ 3 MB (which is probably a low average these days.)
11 (movies) + 1.58 (games) + 63,4 (songs) per second, comes to 44 + 6.32 + 0.1902 which EQ about 50.4 GB/s.
Spain has an average bandwidth use of about 150 Gbits/s.
Maybe my little wine bottle is deeper then it should be, but it does seem a bit strange, even just using MPA(A)s usual file size for movies, that Spain apparently are using more bandwidth then what they are accouting for.
I just knew it! Them spaniards aren’t paying for everything. :p
Obama can’t do squat about us in Europe, so he can butt out right now.
“According to the United States, Spain has one of the worst file-sharing “problems” in the world.”
Hmmm… We seem to have absolutely no problem with file-sharing. On the contrary, we seem to be very good at it. It’s the RIAA, MPAA, etc. the ones who have a problem with that.
Despite the high rates of file-sharing, the local incarnation of the RIAA (SGAE) is doing all it can to change that. They imposed digital taxes on pretty much any electronic device. They run TV ads equaling thief, vandalism, etc. to file-sharing. They even keep money from benefit concerts, although last time, they are “donating back” the ammount they cashed (search for “benefit concert bisbal”).
So far, Spanish ISPs claim they won’t cut users’ connections nor give users’ data to prosecution without a judge’s prior approval.
Oh, incidentally, CD sales and movie earnings are pretty strong in Spain despite (thanks to?) file-sharing.
If Obama thinks torrenting is wrong then I will stop doing it. I will do anything that man says. He’s my idol. I love him so much.
Filesharing is a basic human right in the digital age, but what would a torture country president know about human rights?
@5
‘So if you want to bankrupt US – Download, Share, crack etc.’
Have you looked around recently? It is bankrupt, and file-sharing has brought in more money for these companies during these hard times.
Only thing left to do now is get the USA based Pirate Parties going strong and take down Obama in the next election.
hur hur im america i tell everyone what to do
who would want to trade with them now that they’ve just bankrupted the world economy? maybe THEY should adapt THEIR laws to fit in with the rest of us
lets impose tariffs on spain and stop importing any of their goods until they agree to stop parasitically feeding off the united states…
hmmm what goods? silly twat
If you are from Spain, now is the time for you to pressure your government to send delegations to teach the US government about how
a) The media companies are monopolies and are harmful to fair business practices around the world.
b) Filesharing is actually beneficial to artists.
c) Filesharing is a form of try-before-you-buy, which means sales are dictated by quality.
d) Bittorrent is a cheaper distribution model, improving the chances of those with lower budgets to compete in the global marketplace.
e) For too long have these companies gotten away with pushing their side of the argument. With enough support from the leaders of other countries, and the people they lead, true change can be made. For too long have the people, who are also the customers, been ignored for their needs and opinions.
If you are from the USA, send letters to your congressman with these same arguments, let them know of the sheer numbers of our population that support a more sensible, and easier to manage, system.
f.u.c.k the MAFIAA and f.u.c.k the MAFIAA’s bitch, obama.
Palin 2012 for a free America and a free world.
Gee, I never realized how the fate of the entire world depends on the profits of the movie and music industries…
I forgot to mention that in Spain, file-sharing is protected by the right to make and share private copies (copia privada), as long as you don’t do it for monetary profit. Private copies are not the same as backup copies… Well, instead of going further explaining the Spanish copyright law, I’d just like to point out that in Human Rights Organizations rankings, the US isn’t performing so well. These selfish Human-Righters would like the US to stop using tort– Er, advanced interrogation methods; stop applying the death penalty; stop discriminating minorities; tighten gunfire restrictions; implement universal health care…
Yeah, the US has some real problems that they should solve instead of urging other countries to change their laws.
Great job, US Pirate Party endorsing Obama. You didn’t look at his track record nor Biden’s on copyright issues…
Obama probably doesnt give a sheit about this.
probably just agreed to it since its not an action, just a report.
this way he keeps the tossers of his back……for a while
Obama keep ur ideas to ur piece of sht country called the USA not the world, thank you
That’s true, we’ve been left with change alright. LMAO.
@ 127 May 07, 2009 at 20:40 by Christopher
No, your facts are wrong. Regardless of who supplies input information the USTR releases the report.
http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2009/April/USTR_Releases_2009_Special_301_Report.html
Unless you plan to prove that the USTR is not a government agency then you are wrong.
Uh America is already bankrupt we should keep our noses out of stupid shit like this, Obama is just like any other politician…the only “change” I am seeing is higher taxes.
It says that the “US advises Spain” you dumb fuckheads. It says the word ‘force’ nowhere on that article.
All these bookmark deleting would be ubercorrect mofos: Did he or did he not kick it off with appointing industry henchmen into important jurisdiction and decisionmaking positions and nod meaningfully when 150.000$ per song were considered an okay fine?
Aha.
Now go sit in the corner and eat a giant portion of STFU.
@ Christopher
Just so you understand : if Bob suggests that you rob a bank and you do, then you can be held responsible. You can tell the law Bob told you to do it all you want. The point is, the USTR released the report, it matters not if the IIPA made suggestions or even wrote it, the USTR signed off on it. Thus the Obama Administration signed off on it. Now you have further arguments open to you, but the argument that the Administration did not release the report is wrong.
The USTR released a bunch of compiled information. They didn’t have a choice on whether to “sign off on it” or not. The IIPA gets to write their bit, and it goes into the report no matter what, every year, since long before Obama was president.
The report is advice to the president, not words coming from the president’s mouth.
In your analogy, this would be like I ask Bob to find out what people think of banks. Bob tells me that some people think I should rob a bank, then TorrentFreak reports that I just robbed a bank.
Ignorant on the subject, Obama, speaking for the lobbyists, Wants Spain to Ban BitTorrent Sites.
Fixed.
“the US advises Spain it should takes steps to change it”
That’s strange… Shouldn’t it be the Spanish electorate, and only the Spanish electorate, who should be the ones issuing advice to their elected representaives as to what laws they would like put into place?
Fuck you Obama, fuck you USA.
He is such a shit stealing nigger.
I wish Obama bin Lyin’ would mind his own freakin business. Doesn’t that moron have a speech to give or something?
JJ
privacy-web.net.tc
Who actually writes these reports? I don’t think it comes directly from the mouth of the president. It’s probably some person who had the same position in the last administration. That doesn’t mean Obama is off the hook or anything. It’s still his administration, but I don’t see him being in favor of a three strikes rule. Someone should ask him in no uncertain terms what he thinks.
Problem is that copyright isn’t even in the top ten important topics to Americans so this is probably not some well thought out plan by the president and his inner circle but some quick and ill informed posing on an issue. Still uncool.
Let’s concentrate on the U.S.A. and it’s economy and not some other country’s “torrent” policy.
ACTA is comming to correct that perception that other countries cannot mandate anything to others.
And it continues secret in the US as the EFF is suing the government for access to it.
As far as I know it ACTA will create offices in each country member and will coordinate globally to erase the boundaries of jurisdiction that we have in place today.
Well I hope in America there comes a day when people start using “Anti Circumvention” technologies a.k.a. encryption so when a group tries to circumvent that people can sue them in the same matter that the DMCA permit others to do it today.
That would be ironic no?
Well at least until they come to the hearings every 3 years begging for and exemption to do what they want.
I doubt he had much to do with this.
I don’t understand why all nations have to bow to this guy. What a waste of indiviualism. So Sad
To see some changes I do really believe we as a group need to start using the same weapons the other side is using, against them.
They were not well thought about it and they were designed to hurt others, they are perfect for that and will cost dearly.
When did Spain become part of the US?
Obama = Bush
No Change
More of the same.
How is Obama directly responsible for this? It is the inherent inefficiency of the Chief Executive to be overrun by his/her bureaucracy i.e. DEA marijuana raids in California. That was reconciled after the fact.
The Office of the US Trade Representative is under Ron Kirk who just took office. Deputy Ambassador is Peter Allgeier who was nominted in the Bush Administration. It is more probable the office compiled the report during the interim supervision of the office. An Administration is rarely monolithic.
no obama bin laden mind your own buisness and worry about the real problems in your country.
TorrentFreak…. way to go I like the sensationalist title…nothin was quoted by Obama…and I can guarantee that he didnt write the report either……this is ridiculous…and all you other stupid little spaniards….fuck off … America is one of the greatest countries…so quit hatin on us…. if you dont like it GO TO YOUR OWN FUCKIN DOMAIN…. make your own goddang Torrentfreak.es stupids…
also I’d like to say a very big fuck u to all the republicans out here today…who blindly hate..
Maybe it’s time to put an ad at all those news outlets calling for lawyers who are willing to sue the MAFIAA and colleagues for whatever reason there is.
Can you imagine a fund funded by all the fileshares in the world?
Can we pull this off?
The beauty is we just need to focus on the US for now as the big money comes from there and make an example out of them so people know who they are dealing with.
In America the great defenders of filesharing is the EFF.
http://www.eff.org/action
Anybody knows places in Europe, Asia, South America.
CULTURA PARA TODOS!!
el mercado cambia si no haces dinero con tus discos haz mas conciertos! fuck obama and usa they love to get in other country’s business
Obama is totally wrong to suggest and advise Spain what they should and should not do in their own country. In fact, his administration should adopt the policy that the Spain government has put in place. Spain government has set a great example of what the rest of world governments should follow when it comes to file sharing. Spain has the best policy protecting people who want to share files for personal and non-commercial use. I will write to my congressman and representative, asking them to adopt the Spain’s laws in protecting consumer’s privacy and freedom of expression in the modern time.
Obama has done a lot of things right so far as the new president of the U.S and I support him, but when it comes to file sharing, he is totally wrong. He chose 5 prosecutors from RIAA to lead his legal team because of Joe Biden’s connection with the entertainment industry. It is evident that Obama has shown serious errors of judgment regarding people’s privacy and freedom of expression.
I also agree with the sentiment of the people here that Obama should focus governing the U.S and let Spain and the rest of the world govern their own country. Please don’t let the U.S push you around in Spain. Keep doing what you are doing because Spain has the best protection for their citizens.
If you own a piece of media, you should be allowed to do whatever you want with it, that includes sharing it with the world. Yes, media industries will loose money, but in my opinion they already make to much. When you hear about movies coming out making 160 million dollars or something outrages from the box office, after that there just being greedy.
This article is quite inaccurate.
Special 301 is released by the USTR (Office of US Trade Representative), not the IIPA as linked in the article. The IIPA is NOT a government office, it is a trade group much like the BSA, RIAA or MPAA who lobbies to the USTR about who should be put on the annual watch list produced by the USTR. That list in turn can influence trade policy decisions like carrying out unilateral sanctions (in the more extreme cases).
You can find the 2009 Special 301 report here where Spain has been listed on the low-level of the watch list: http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Release …
The IIPA does not always dictate who gets put on the USTR’s Special 301 and for what. For example the IIPA was furious recently that Nigeria was removed from the list.
Lastly, the special 301s are generated from the prior year and are targeted as forthcoming decions, so Obama nor Ron Kirk (Obama appointed head of the USTR) had any part in compiling the list. However, I do think they may carry out some of the suggestions that the USTR compiled.
i r world police bitches
@ jasonjcrawford:
Did we just get trolled by the retarded inaccuracies of Torrent Freak?
This may be one of the best troll-baits I have ever seen.
Hey
1) the guy is doing his job and attempting to protect music and software, most of which was created in the USA.
2) after hearing all the anti-US sentiment, I wish we’d have taken your advice to keep to ourselves back in 1942, then we’d be hearing all your thoughtful input delivered in German.
3) might I remind you that, despite the many, many imperfections, problems and mistakes by the USA; the USA remains the world’s most giving, humanitarian country. far and away. perhaps we should hang on to that too.
All I’m asking is you keep a balanced opinion, assuming you expect the USA to keep a balanced opinion in kind.
Ain’t it sad how some people still can’t accept the fact that Sarah Palin didn’t become vice-president? :D
But since Obama is, in fact, a firm believer in “net neutrality”, I guess the next headline’s going to be “TorrentFreak contributor faces libel lawsuit”.
Anyway, thanks for reminding me why I had stopped coming here. ;)
LMFAOOOOOOOOO, I LOVE this … all the Leftist imbeciles who voted for “Change” … how do you MORONS feel now????????
I am soooooo glad this piece of filth is FINALLY showing his true colors … both of them, you might say! ;-)
Hahahahaaaaaa … way to FAIL, Nobama … you Socialist garbage!
Spanish guy here.
Obama: Get the fuck out of here. Your country, your laws. Our country, our laws. Spain its a sovereign country, so you should shut up and start taking steps to protect your citizens rights.
Here we protect the citizen and the culture, not the economic interest from the media entertainment lobby.
Greetings to all the P2P community.
Those dumb yanks and the majority of the world’s population think this guy will change the world! haha on the contrary this guy is nothing but another puppet much like Bush except he is a person of colour.
All talk, zero substance and 100% BS.
It was just a request of Spain. perhaps the majority of this group should relax and ponder it before reacting too quickly. As overfishing has depleted mother nature perhaps the short-sighted over torrenting has weakened the creators of the content to make anymore. what will you pilfer then, with nothing new to get? three’s company?
Here in Spain we have what is called a “fair use” right. We pay kind of a tax (on blank CDs and DVDs, hard drives, mobiles phones, etc.) for being able to copy whatever content we want (music and movies, not software) while it is for personal use only.
That “tax” is paid to SGAE (General Society of Authors and Publishers), and they’re supposed to pay the content creators.
For fuck sake TF Obama has made almost zero decisions/statements on copyright law, international or domestic. He’s got other shit to deal with that is more important right now and CR is low on the list. He probably had nothing to do with this report. America is a fucking massive beauracracy. Enigmax must definetly write the most horrible drivel on this site compared to some of the other much more sensible writers on the staff. Do some fucking fact checking.
HE HAD NOTHING OT DO WITH THIS. DO SOME RESEARCH OF YOUR OWN.
So many good responses… the most appealing to me is “this is why the rest of the world hates America. sticking their nose in everyone elses business”
You say tomayto we say fuck you, you fucking fucks!
Why are American stirring up trouble with Spain. I didn’t know they had oil. Will there be a “pre-emptive invasion” of Europe to protect Hollywood?
as i sit here reading this i’m now wondering how this guy comes to think he can change laws in other countries that have f all to do with him?
i fail to see how this can even be possible it’s like ireland trying to make the usa change its rules and what not they’d just get laughed at by the usa government
isn’t it funny we put people in goverement power to help us we put them there for us, for them to work for us, and to help the country we are in keep running
Spain has nothing what so ever to do with usa, and visa versa, what he wants to do first of all is get all the power mad killing dictators out of the countries thats pysically abusing and hurting their people
but no what does he choose? something that is hurting no-body
this world has gone upside down it really as, at one point i was dreading the day coming when i die thinking of what i leave behind.
now i’m more than happy to get out of this complete mess which is going to lead to anarchy and chaos and get worse
the big bang is coming
I’d like to give one extra point of view on the subject:
I personaly think that Obama indeed does not know what he is doing.
He is currently dealing with quite many problems in us, and I can guess that riaa just showed him reports with fake info (”Pirates in Spain pirate our nations exports and cause our economy to go down”)
Yes, he is most probably being used without him knowing it.
Also I would not be suprised if some stronger copyright laws are made in us in few months or so.
O-bummer.
Why did everyone support Obama in the first place, first ACTA now this…
Honestly, who can say they’re surprised? Once money exchanged hands, the MPAA/RIAA said jump, and Obama asked how high.
Whoever wrote this article should be banned from ever posting on this site again.
Seriously, Obama wants Spain to ban BitTorrent sites?
Right… show us proof of this, and don’t post a piece of shit article that is only serving to fan the flames of all the other piece of shit posts linked to it.
Honestly, most of you should be fucking disgusted with yourselves.
Some of the comments on this story are disgusting and it’s all because enigmax hasn’t bothered to write a proper article.
Yet another example of TorrentFreak posting non-news simply to keep up their userbase in these times of piracy and uncertainty.
Who is Mr. Obama?
It is really dumb (or manipulative?) to blame this on Obama. Really dumb, and makes you look foolish, TorrentFreak.
I’d like to see things kept realistic myself, though maybe TF here’s more interested in shock headlines as a tool to fool the easily-misled? Get ‘em all worked up, eh?
@18
“Obama, just another filthy capitalist.”
everyone knows that obama is a socialist who wants to destroy the American economy even more XD /sarcasm
@141 screamer: “hmmm what goods? silly twat”
—————
uh, the close to TEN BILLION DOLLARS worth of goods spain exported to the USA last year, that’s “what goods” you drooling, ignorant retard.
sanctions should be imposed on further trade should they continue to parasitically and unabashedly feed off one our our largest industries and then have the audacity to call it “fair”.
“2) after hearing all the anti-US sentiment, I wish we’d have taken your advice to keep to ourselves back in 1942, then we’d be hearing all your thoughtful input delivered in German.”
——————-
LOL very true…
I am sure, unless told by MPAA or RIAA, Obama could give a shit less.
Bush was better :drummer:
fuk u obama….y the fuk u dont want us to use p2p….p2p is not always illegal….no wonder asshole
Unfortunatly, it’s obviuos that Obama “signed a deal” with the devil (Hollywood/MPAA) to get elected, and now he pays back the favor.
Many rightfully point out this articles content has no direct link to Obama, but is merely using his name to make a point, but many other reports & articles indeed suggest that Obama is playing hardboiled towards copyright infringement, and do the MAFIAA’s bidding…sadly:
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/03/23/obamas-pro-copyright-industry-department-justice-sides-riaas-150-000-song-penalty
check also:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/obama-keep-fill/
Still, Obama is WAAAYY better than Bush, no doubt about it! Just the fact that he can actually form meaningfull sentences is an improvement…Says a lot about politics in US actually – LOL!
But he is also a product of traditional american politics… both for the better, but unfortunatly mostly for the worse.
HUH? How does this reflect Obama’s opinion at all? Blame the feds in general, not the new president.
“after hearing all the anti-US sentiment, I wish we’d have taken your advice to keep to ourselves back in 1942, then we’d be hearing all your thoughtful input delivered in German.””
I notice that you say 1942 whereas the rest of the World were at war from 1939. Still, an improvement on WW1 which you joined in 1917… guess Germany didn’t have any oil.
I know America revels in a ‘blame culture’ but maybe you should have a think about why the majority of the world wishes the Hiroshima bomb had been dropped on our shit country.
It’s this interfering wankerish behaviour that has made you a detested cuntry.
bloody foolish.. rather then worrying about some kid in Spain loading up his IPOD maybe you should concentrate on rebuilding the 9th ward that is still a total write off 4 years later. With the state of your country and big business you need to pull your heads out of your a** and fix your own crap before trying to impose your will on other nations.
You don’t have a system in place that works seems hypocritical to pass judgment and try to fix others. Why is this even on the radar for the government? Folks losing their jobs, homes, whole industries failing but lets not deal with that right now we should arrest the guy with a pirated version of windows.
Obama is definitely not the change that I hoped for… He has reneged already on 2 many promises.. Hes toast in 4 years.. Bringing in those RIAA\MPAA lawyers was the last straw for me..
Oh and lets not forget Canada on the priority watch list.. That is a a joke in itself..
Im going to laugh when all these younger kids are able to vote in the next US election.. Blue party is going to get a rude awakening..
The hollywood crowd kissed his butt. So you think he would not kiss there butt’s.
American here.
Screw you, Obama. Where do you get off telling Spain what to do with its IP laws?
Another TF HIT.
200+ comments.
Good job TF.
Even if the Obama connection is a bit over the top, this means that way over 1000 persons have been a little educated on the subject.
Congrats TF.
TorrentFreak: The Home of Articles That Make The Onion Look Scholarly
I was once a fan of TorrentFreak, but since they are no longer able to keep their political racism out of the articles they toss up, no more.
If there was any real journalism of any kind to be found here at all, this article should have already been corrected.
Apparently “enigmax” wouldn’t know how to research and properly report a fact if his life depended on it.
I can only assume that TorrentFreak has now taken to “reporting” in the same way as Fox News: Bend the story to fit your agenda and the facts be damned.
this has nothing to do with obama.
As much as I like Obama if he is going to come here and tell me what to do I can also tell him what to do with his banks that turned the whole world upside down… stupid
Who the f*ck do they think they are? Asking other countries to change their law. Do those ppl actually know what ‘democracy’ means?
this has nothing to do with obama. read again “each year” they do the bloody list. no matter who is president. they ride their hide horse and tell the rest how to rule their own countries. typical american moronic arrogance.
nothing new here.
and it also reminds of how they tell the dutch what drug policies they should have.
again. nothing new here, just typical american arrogance.
Look at all the socialists slating the article, you are blinded by your love of an incompetent. Yeah, go back to MSNBC for journalism that fits in with your spineless, two-faced agenda. Viva Espana
America make their own nuclear/weapons but orders other countries to stop.
Same thing happening here they force other countries to run under US laws
Obama or no Obama, the US can go fuck themselves
“TorrentFreak: The Home of Articles That Make The Onion Look Scholarly”
lol!
I don’t think this article is exactly fair… Obama probably had nothing to do with the 301 report…
Still, rediculous that the US is trying to deny other countries the right to a free and open exchange of culture…
I’am american but a pirate first fu@k you Obama.
USA, you should simply with your fucking’ corpocracy!
wtf, i thought he was a pro-internet dude, this shows the opposite.
Bloody not brilliant at all. Team world police my a
i didn’t know spain was like a 14 years old child…
thanks to US daddy , we’ll be safe!
Who the FU*K do they think they are? Americans are really full of themselves.
“The US charges that the Spanish government has done little “to change the widespread misperception in Spain that peer-to-peer file sharing is legal,” referring to the 2006 “decriminalization” notification from the Office of the Prosecutor-General as “problematic”.”
What is legal is determined by laws in a country, how do they dear say that Spain is doing to little to teach ppl that file sharing is ilegal.. because it’s NOT. America is ONE country. I mean seriously this is unforgivable on so maney levels!!!
Why don’t they just create a ‘piracy’ tax? Maybe the MPAA would stop whining…
I think you should know that in spain we are oblied to pay a “canon” in compensation for the downloads, this means each time I buy a DVD,Hard-drive, printer, camara… I must pay about a dollar for each cd and up to 20 dollars for a printer(in adition to it’s original price). So fuck them, if I’m already being fined for something I didn’t do I better just do it.
Huh, didn’t know FOX was writing for TF these days. Did you guys even bother researching before reporting this?
I mean, it took all three seconds to bring up the 2008 Special 301 Report and see that Spain was added to the ‘watch list’ and mentioned for its take on piracy for years before that.
OK, the USA will butt out of your business. We will end all the aid we send to your sorry ass countries, all the military protection we provide free of charge, the internet infrastructure we pay for and maintain, the 65% of the world’s food we produce, etc. etc. etc. Seriously, if I had the misfortune to live in lazy-ass countries like Spain and France, I would be embarrassed to criticize anyone else. I mean really, name a Spanish or French scientist, artist or philosopher of any note in the past 25 years…
CAlm down with all these “F*UCK Obama” comments. He’s just another pawn in the hands of big business. The U.S became a fascist state a loooong time ago. How anyone would be surprized by this is beyond me.
Sweden was threatened by The U.S, saying theyd put Sweden in their little black book, “revising Swedens standing among their trade partners” which subsequently promted the raid on the TPB servers and many copyright laws and surveilance laws to be enacted (more to come). The U.S is a VERY important trading partner to Sweden who depend solely on it’s export industry.
The Swedish people are resisting en mass but is a hard fight when you need to take the fight to the EU. It’s damn near impossible to change laws enforced by the EU on Swedens citizens.
Spain will experience the same as us Swedes..
@truthkeeper
It’s exactly that american arrogance that makes the world hate you.
You think that the world oves America something while it’s the complete opposite. There’s been soo many democraticaly elected governments and leaders being overthrown and assassined by the U.S to protect american interests that you should speak when spoken too.
F*cking arrogant prick.
The U.S. need to worry about pirates.
Pirates of Somalia not pirates of the internet.
@ 159 May 07, 2009 at 23:35 by Christopher
So by your argument Obama appointed ‘Bob’ and ‘Fred’ suggested robbing banks and so Bob passed the idea along. Great people Obama is picking isn’t it. So the bottom line is that you admit that Obama has chosen people that are giving bad advice. So Obama is not necessarily guilty of targeting filesharers, but is guilty of appointing incompetent people. Okay, I’ll buy that. However if Obama is replaced with ‘Obama Administration’ in the article then the article becomes indisputable. Apparently TF (or should I say enigmax) thinks that the president should shoulder more responsibility for his administration than you do.
It’s such a shame. Obama had such a huge wave of public support a few months ago that he could have made sweeping changes almost overnight to put these goddam cartels in their place.
There would of course have had to be something to replace the current model, maybe a complsory license agreement. But the same moral indignation he showed towards Guantanamo** could have been vented at the cartels for their despicable ’sue ‘em all’ campaign. He was perfectly placed to tell them, ‘Here’s how its going to be, deal with it’.
**Yes, I know Guantanamo is in a whole different league. But the principles are the same.
The cool thing as that neither Christopher or I are trolling. I believe that people don’t just continue to do things for no reason. If some of this information was in a previous report and just got left in due to laziness, then the USTR is still just as guilty of not doing their job properly. The statement that bothered me most was the misinformation that this did not come from a government report when it did. The argument of whether Obama should be responsible for the actions of his administration can be a matter for ongoing debate. I personally do not feel that the omission of the word ‘Administration’ from the article to be sufficient to outweigh the significance of the news contained therein.
Office of the US Trade Representativ DOES NOT EQUAL “Obama”
remove the phrase “obama wants to change all that.” considering the way similar negative spin is used to bring down torrent sites, i’m shocked, torrentfreak.
This is why I didn’t vote for Obama. I voted for Stephen Colbert in South Carolina. Obama may be doing some great things for the United States, but he has been a bigger supporter of the MPAA/RIAA than Bush!
@ OPP
People always hate what they envy. Call it arrogance if you want, but here we work for what we have, give to those in need, and have a higher standard of living that just about anywhere. (And please don’t use Switzerland or other countries that are totally dependent on US trade and protection as examples of places with “higher” SOLs)
What country are you from, btw?
I’ll say again.
This article showed nothing of oBOMBa’s opinions!!!!!!
So why do i see so many anti oBOMBa posts? It looks like alot of you didn’t even read the article.
Still i supported Ron Paul, i wish people gave him a chance, mabey he wouldn’t have been the best for the job but anythings gotta be better than exactly the same each time..
Lol –> “it’s time for change”
I agree that Obama is probably more rhetoric than substance, like most politicians, but are we sure it’s right to blame him directly for this? Just don’t think it’s particularly sensible to jump for the government figurehead if the responsible party are a particular section of the government (I’m not an Obamoid).
Feck Obama, sure he’s a better spokes man than Bush but the rest of the world doesn’t need his ‘We should police the world crap’!
#233
Our government can choose to ignore the disgusting EU rules. Instead they take them into their filthy corrupted embrace and IMPROVE the shit for the copyright industry.
Pirate party is the only solution. Being the 3rd biggest party in sweden now; we got a pretty good chance to be able to make some changes pretty soon.
meaningless page.
stop it with the Obama. I think the purpose is to over saturate people with him so that he loses popularity. I don’t care about either – him or the americans.
Give me some actual news, TF
@ the anti America stuff.
your country is dead without the help of the US so fuck off.
you either work with us or we just nuke the shit out of you.
Change you can believe in! Ha. This country (America) is going to hell.
You are all idiots.
F*ck you Obama, you are just an actor.
what d f**K is wrong with d American government. If someone wants to share what he/she buys its not the fucking business of the government. Obama should b thinking of Afghanistan instead of piracy.
This is absolutely of Zero importance BTW.
This report is another attempt to bully anyone that doesn’t play the MAFIAA game, to fall in line, or else…
Spain is a sovereign nation. Spain is absolutely abble to decide and act on it’s own. This attempts of “counselling” are insulting to the Spanish government, to the spanish people and colateraly to all the E.U.
Bullys, are getting their asses dragged to court. Maybe, it’s time to start acting like them, and sue them for disrespect for the sovereignity of a INDEPENDENT nation.
Apparently, because the content being shared is of U.S. production, they feel entitled to place threats against everyone, everywhere. Who the hell CARES?
The veiled threats are the worst, what will they do? Place a boycott on Spain? Really? Well, we can actualy see the good that will do the American Companies that will stop selling to Spain. And, the rest of E.U.? Would they stay on the Spannish side, or the U.S. side? Would they REALLY try? It’s impossible.
The world is not a U.S. colony.
This makes me really quite sad.
Obama is overstepping his role in the world here. regardless of who he thinks he is, he is NOT the world police, and Spain DOES have the right to shut out us Americans. anyone heard of juries diction?
i remember on the elections when allot of file share communities where in favor of obama thinking he would be a bit more pro in all this matter.. guess they where all wrong..
If you really want to laugh take a look at my country’s report, Egypt
http://www.iipa.com/rbc/2009/2009SPEC301EGYPT.pdf
This is why Bob Barr should’ve won the 2008 presidential election…
What a “change” we can believe in!
AMERICA F*CK YEAH! Comin along to save the f*ckin day Yeah!
This is actually the HEIGHT of ignorance. World policing ignorant b*stards.
If I was the Spaniard receiving this. I would consider it for a moment feigning interest then crumple it up, throw it to my PA and have him send his PA to forcibly insert it up the anus of the sender.
Erm – sorry – hasn’t Mr President far more pressing matters to attend to … LIKE STOPPING HIS WHOLE COUNTRY GOING INTO BANKRUPTCY – perhaps any judge in any case brought by any of the “flag wavers” outside of their shores would be good enuff to point this out & send em home at their own personal expense … – perhaps local customs could also be informed pre their arrival and have the rubber gloves ready – just in case – u never know what they may want to smuggle out of a country …
Well, you people wanted “Change” and that is what I’m giving you. The only thing you idiots forgot is that “Change” in itself isn’t always “Change” for the better.
You’re welcome … and keep the change.
Obama – Pobre Inocente!
viva P2P
WAIT A DAMN MINUTE, I love how all you non-Americans were for obama before he was elected. I remember thinking to myself: The rest of the world needs to mind it’s own business, because I was not for obama. Now you got what you wanted now that obama is elected and I guess you know how I felt now that America is minding your business.
Long Live BitTorrent!!
I want Spain to ban Obama.
And this dumb monkey managed to become a US president? ROFL.
The US charges that the Spanish government has done little “to change the widespread misperception in Spain that peer-to-peer file sharing is legal,”
what misconception? file sharing IS legal in Spain. maybe obama should focus more on his own countries failings before criticizing other countries on matters as fucking trivial as file sharing. children dying from malnourishment in africa? fuck that, this filesharing issue needs to be addressed!
Oh yeah, here we go again! The almighty world police USA [government] telling other countries how to behave.
One
Big
Ass
Mistake
America
Never commented his actions, but this is just too much..
Lol I think you guys are going a bit far on the Obama hate and what limitations America has.. America is ALLOWED to try and get another country to do what it wants. I live in New Zealand and my government could ask Obama for anything. But Obama could reject or negotiate the terms of any agreement. This is POLITICS. I don’t think Obama is gonna withdraw any trade agreements etc with Spain if it doesn’t change its laws.. It will look less threatening to the Spanish Govt than it does in an article like this, as I said politics..
Fix the problems in america before you go around pissing off international countries, have you not learned anything from Bush Obama?
Half of Obamas IT Attorney,s worked for Hollywood.
mind your own busines assh##le
Obama: Take care about the problems in YOUR country first (if you can). And remember: Spain is different ^^
he did the same with KOSOVO.Kosovo is SERBIAN country since……..America breakes European laws and tell as what to do and when to do it.We can not tolerate this anymore.It hurts to much to watch what America is doing to people all aroud the world.Someone must STOP this.just imagine your life without the BitTorrent.Imagine…
ban obama.obama baned
I can’t believe an idiot like Obama managed to become president
If Spain wants to make themselves a third-world country, they can go ahead and be our guest. But unfortunately, their hosting content from and for other countries is bringing down the rest of us. I’m surprised that the US and the rest of the EU has been so permissive of this behavior.
You want to see why the US economy is so messed up, you look at a decade full of throwing away savings down the drain to fight a fool’s war while actual threats to our economy like this go unaddressed.
The comments on this thread are EPIC LULZ…
nice….
Makes me happy, to know I am better than all of you, by over 9000.
The comments on this thread are EPIC LULZ…
nice….
Makes me happy, to know I am better than all of you, by over 9000.
details for Albo Da Kid aka AlbiBx
email is albibx@gmail.com Have fun with this
69.118.19.57
69.118.22.236
69.126.123.144
173.2.92.76
173.2.92.0
173.2.92.255
One more proof that Obama wasn’t just an empty promise. Theft is theft whatever fancy packaging it comes in (”filesharing” being the most transparent camouflage ever for “theft”, or “piracy”). Keep the net civilized, it’s too brilliant an innovation to be corrupted by lawlessness.
Obama is wrong.
There was an interesting quote I found on a BBC site that talked about the advent of libraries. When libraries were first starting to come out, there was heavy opposition, in that authors didn’t want to lose any of their profits.
The exact same thing is happening now, just on much larger scale – and a WAY less regulate-able scale.
You could technically shut down bittorrent… a lot of the protocol is trackable. If he does that, everyone goes to older networks for a bit, and then we up the encryption. Whatever Obama wastes his budget on, there will always be P2P networks.
(Btw. If he does pull that kinda crap, I’m a developer – and i WILL, GUARANTEED, put over 90% of my work into the Bittorrent 2 Protocol, JUST to show him that thinking has FAR more reach than being a bully xD)
The Anti-N00b.
Before being picked as Obama’s VP, Joe Biden opined that P2P should be a criminal offense.
Before Obama (but largely after Hillary), Hilary Rosen was the most-appeared expert shill on cable TV. zpecifically CNN-Wolf Blitzer and MSNBC Keith Obermann, who gabe birth to Rachel Maddow. It was not mentioned that before becoming ObamaGirl Enterprise Version 1.0, Hilary Rosen headed the RIAA. She was the one who started the P2P hysteria that has twisted priorities on the highest levels. It’s one thing to have a message. It’s another to force your specific corporate interest down public schoolkids’ throats via Junior Achievement.
This is whom Obama respects. I have yet to see a change to be believed in.
@truthkeeper
It’s obvious that your arrogance is only surpassed by your ignorance. There are many countries with a higher standard of living than the U.S. The gap between rich and poor in the U.S is appalling and free healthcare, anyone??? The whole of Scandinavia, for example, has a MUCH higher standard of living. I’m from Sweden myself and we actually lend large amounts of money to the U.S every year!
Per capita, Sweden gives substantially more aid than the U.S to countries and our aid goes to something that actuellyu help these countries build up infrastructure. The U.S send genetically modified crops by the tens of thousands of tons to wipe out African nations food market and destroy their industry so that the U.S and the E.U can suck their nations dry of rescourses. Sweden aslo takes in most Iraqie refugees in the world next to their neighbouring countries. Actually, the city of Södertälje accepts more Iraqie refugees in one year(!) than the whole of North America. There’s thousands of christian iraqies who are forced to leave Iraq becaus of persecution and the U.S does nothing to help these people. They are to blame for teh mess that ios Iraq and does nothing to help these people. Selfish, arrogant and ignorant = U.S of A.
I hope the day comes when other Americans realize that the left-right paradigm is a fallacy. If you closely examine the Republican and Democratic parties on a policy basis, it becomes evident that, although they promise different ideas during campaign season, once elected they enact similar policies, albeit with minor differences to keep the sheep from realizing something is amiss, to strip civil liberties from its citizens and export its tyranny abroad. The truth of the matter is the Republicans and Democrats are a single entity progressing toward similar goals since the birth of neoconservatism and neoliberalism. This way, when the public becomes angry with the current president of whichever party, next election they’ll most likely elect a candidate from the opposing major party and the single entity retains power, whereas if it was made clear it was a single party, it would be toppled by the people and loose its power. This is why legitimate third parties, such as the Libertarians and the Constitution Party, are excluded from the debates sponsored by major media tycoons — because they threaten the supremacy of the single Republicrat party. After all, third parties spouting principles of individual sovereignty, abolishing America’s quest for a world empire, adhering to the Constitution, and expelling tyranny are harmful to a criminal and tyrannical government.
On TPB:
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4764802/The_Obama_Deception
On YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
All of you Obammunists need to stop making excuses for this moron … the “he has nothing to do with this” mantra is totally ridiculous … he’s not exactly speaking AGAINST it, is he? Regarding the indoctrinated European imbeciles who supported this piece of garbage, it’s rather ironic how you HYPOCRITES are criticizing your idol … you people worshiped this empty suit without examining his record … what exactly were you expecting from a closet Marxist? “Change?” Don’t tell me how “well” he speaks … the guy is a lawyer for christ’s sake … Hitler spoke well too … and so did Stalin for that matter … open your eyes and ears and stop being fooled by illusions and empty words … and if you want America out of your business, stay out of ours … we may have made our mistakes but given YOUR bloody history history of colonization, slavery, wars and genocides, you Europeans are in no position to point fingers and criticize.
So many idiots. Show me the Obama quote or fuck off.
Obama can suck my coocckk!
@ # 295
I hope your joking..after all you don’t want to have to go out there and look for a new d**k to replace the old one.
Why are there so many racist comments about Obama on here? Does being black really affect anything?
I do believe however, that he is probably misinformed about the whole copyright issue. As a politician, especially as the president, he is probably sheltered from the opinions of the true public. It is one of the failings of the lobby-rich environment of our government. This is why we need to impress upon our congressmen the truth about the media company’s subversive tactics.
No, I am not black, and I did not vote for Obama myself. But he is the President now, so stop living in the past and hope that his understanding of the Internet transcends what is being pushed on him by those who stand to gain by censorship. I believe that of all the candidates that we had, he is best suited for coming around to the viewpoint of the filesharers.
dont buy any more films or music from america, all they will do is pollute the world more with that money, with there big suvs.
or spend it on guns, drugs , buying furniture from chopped down rain forest.
dont watch crappy american tv shows, dont waste interenet downloads on crap music or more boring films with drug addled celebs.
make your own music, sell your music locally, opt-out, of this crap.
even watching it, is rotting our brains.
Dont ever buy any more films or music from america, all they will do is pollute the world more with the money fed into the system.
Or spend it on guns, drugs , buying furniture from chopped down rain forest, driving in big suvs with v12 engines, pumping black smog.
Dont watch crappy tv shows, dont waste internet downloads on crap music or more boring films with drug addled celebs, grinning away.
Make your own music, sell your music locally, opt-out, of this crap, let them try to capitalise the whole internet if thats what is wanted , its just like sand, the harder the fist clenches the more sand slips through the fingers.
even watching it, is rotting our brains.
its not even worth downloading.
Actually,Obama is powerless.Blame the real culprits: CONGRESS
We all know the opposite of “pro” is “con” so what would you expect here. The opposite of “Progress” is “Congress”
Until enough of us Americans wake up and realize that we need a independent party majority OTHER than Dems or Repubs in congress and vote accordingly,it will always be the same bullshit as usual. Follow the money! Because money corrupts,the risk still remains even with a new majority in Congress. I would be hard pressed to actually expect that we will ever have a majority in congress that doesnt pander to big business and the entertainment industry. The people need to band together and take back this country but our government and the media have successfully divided us all with propoganda,hate and socio-economic divide that makes us fight one another. This is part of thier agenda because it protects thier interests. I actually expect to see a revolution here instead but all in all it doesnt matter because Chinas ultimate goal is to blindly take over the US and the world. They too will fail,along with the new world order and all the greedy big business and governments around the world when Dec 21 2012 finally arrives! Seriously…Change is coming,butthis will have nothing to do with Obama at all.
But… But… His Holiness the Great Messiah of modern times is going to heal the world and bring us all together under one big happy global tent of happiness and happy, joyful peace.
Well, don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for His Majesty. How’s that hope and change working out for you, after all?
i do not know what is that son of a b**** thinking but he do not have any power out of us… f*** you obama!
Obama Bin landen
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