Over 100 Spanish web sites have gone off-line in protest against
a new law that obliges them to monitor on-line content. The
Register reports that the Law of Information Society Services and
Electronic Commerce, which implements the EU’s E-commerce Directive
in Spain, came into effect on Saturday.
The new law requires that Spanish web sites register with the government. It also obliges ISPs to monitor web sites for illicit content and report such content to the authorities. ISPs must retain records of internet activity for up to 12 months. Each of these obligations is beyond the scope of the E-commerce Directive.
In the event of non-compliance, web sites and ISPs will face fines of between €3,000 and €600,000 and authorities can obtain court orders to shut down web sites and seize their contents.
According to The Register, the protestors want the new law to be reviewed by the Spanish Constitutional Court.
A list of 136 protesting web sites, many of which have replaced their content with protest notices about the new law, is available at: www.kriptopolis.com/
