The Ministry of Culture, within its campaign If you're legal, you're legal against "piracy" on the Internet has posted on its website a decalogue with "The 10 most widespread lies about intellectual property." Under the slogan "Illegals try to deceive you... Don't let yourself be manipulated!, so that no one deceives you", the Ministry directed by César Antonio Molina points out that music and movie downloads are not legal, that P2P file sharing programs (like eMule) are prosecutable, are not safe, and represent a plunder for artists and creators.
However, the decalogue has been refuted point by point by Internet users' associations, blogs and other citizen groups related to the Internet. This is the anti-decalogue based on their opinions:
1.- What is on the Internet is free
Ministry of Culture: Fake! The music, cinema, images, texts, video games that are on the Internet have been created by people. It is up to them to decide whether its use is free or, on the contrary, to put a price on its use.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! What is on the Internet can be free, paid or even both categories, free for a time with the option to purchase (share). In the case of videos and music, creators can demand a price from those who market these contents or profit from them (iTunes, Google, Yahoo, etc.)
2.-Downloading music or movies from the Internet is legal
Culture: Fake! When content owners authorize free downloading, it is legal. If the download is not authorized by the rights holders, an intellectual property infringement occurs.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! Music downloads are legal, or more precisely, they are not illegal. This is stated in a 2006 ruling from the Criminal Court number 3 of Santander that acquitted an Internet user, for whom two years in prison were requested for downloading and sharing music on the Internet, considering that this practice is not a crime, if there is no intention for profit, and is protected by the right of private copy.
3.- If the © symbol does not appear in content on the Internet, I can use it
Culture: Fake! The absence of the symbol does not indicate that the content is free to use. For this to be the case, the owner has had to expressly state it.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! As long as it is not for profit, the individual user has no means at his disposal to check whether content is protected by copyright or not. It is up to Internet companies to provide the technological means to guarantee this right. For example, YouTube has created its Video ID system that allows rights holders to identify their content and decide what to do with it: block it, authorize it or market it.
4.- It is legal to copy or use Internet content as long as the author is cited.
Culture: Fake! We must mention the source and author when we use a quote in a research paper or article. In these cases, the fragment must be short and proportionate to the end of the incorporation. And if we are not quoting, but rather using a work without authorization, we must obtain authorization from the owner.
Antidecalogue: TRUE. The very statement of Culture contradicts itself. It is one thing to use content and another to plagiarize. Plagiarism is prosecutable on and off the Internet. The quote, no. Regarding copying, in Spain a fee is paid for any device or service that is capable of copying or recording (DVD, MP3, mobile phones, photocopier, flash and USB memories, etc.) protected content. The amount of this digital fee (118 million euros this year) is distributed among the authors and creators.
5.- When I share music and content through peer to peer (P2P) programs, I do not need authorization
Culture: Fake! The use of these programs involves the exploitation of intellectual property rights that have not been authorized, which constitutes an infringement of intellectual property rights.
Antidecalogue:TRUE!. In Spain, there is no court ruling that says that p2p needs authorization. On the contrary, a final ruling from the Provincial Court of Madrid last September acquitted the promoters of Sharemula, a linking website, stating that linking to p2p networks "does not imply a violation of intellectual property rights."
6.- File exchanges through P2P networks are legal
Culture: Fake! If these exchanges take place without the authorization of the intellectual property rights holders, they are illegal acts.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! In addition to what was said in point five, the doctrine of the State Attorney General's Office (circular of May 2006) indicates that the exchange of files through the p2p system is not criminally incriminatable. It is true that the Prosecutor's Office points out that they may constitute a civil offense, but there has not been a judicial ruling in civil proceedings against Internet users who have used p2p without profit.
7.- P2P networks are secure
Culture: Fake! Security is a serious problem since we give access to our computer to all those who are connected to it. Anyone can move freely and access our data: IP, type of downloads we are doing, phone number and other security information that appears on the computer.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! P2P networks are as safe as the user wants, who can freely decide what content they share on their computer and filter the content they download using antivirus. It is curious that Cultura denounces this lack of security when it wants to implement a download control model like the French one by which an extrajudicial authority would have access to all that data on our computer.
8. The cultural industry and artists already earn enough so I don't hurt anyone if I don't pay
Culture: Fake! Authors, artists, and intellectual property content industries have a legitimate right to make money, succeed, and have a successful career, just as they do in any professional sector. It is not justified that this sector is discriminated against and its right to be paid is questioned.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! The cultural industry, like all others, must adapt to new times and technological changes. With the same arguments, linotypists would be authorized to request a ban on computing. Contrary to what Culture says, it is the audiovisual industry itself that demands positive discrimination (subsidies, prohibition of P2P, digital canon, etc.) that no other productive sector enjoys.
9.- Illegal downloads promote artists and authors, who see their works disseminated and become known without the need for the industry.
Culture: Fake! Behind the authors and artists there is an industry that gives them work, makes them known and invests in them.
Antidecalogue: TRUE! No famous artist has been ruined by downloads, not even those like Prince who have tried to pursue them (she asked for compensation from a mother who played one of his songs to her baby). As for the modest ones, the Internet has given hundreds of groups, including some as famous as Arctic Monkeys, the possibility of accessing the public, without having to go through the filter of the record companies that until now decided who published and who did not.
10.- Access to cultural products has to be free and that is what P2P networks achieve
Culture: Fake! Infringements of intellectual property rights carried out through the Internet (illegal downloads) cannot be confused with the right of access to culture, a form of freedom of expression or legitimate civil disobedience, nor as something inevitable and intrinsic to the Internet. .
Antidecalogue:TRUE! P2P networks democratize access to cultural content, allowing you to enjoy works that are not marketed due to lack of profitability or because they are out of print. The industry must find new ways to make its assets profitable. iTunes, Amazon and other payment platforms have already shown that it can be done.
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