Member States

Astonishing revelations of a US plan to get Spain to block websites and implement a graduated response. IPR and copyright held as high a priority as Afghanistan and Iran in diplomatic talks. Rights-holders collaborated with the US. Citizens opposition groups such as the Internautas, named.

Diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks show how the Spanish government has been pressured by the US to bring forward a draconian copyright enforcement law to address peer-to-peer file-sharing. The US authorities were acting on behalf of rights-holder organisations including the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) which represents the big Hollywood studios.

One of the levers used against Spain was to place it on the US notorious

Germans protest against data retention, and plans by the German families Minister for Internet filtering to 'protect the children'. In a separate move, the German government has held talks on ISP 'co-operation' on copyright enforcement.

On September 12, 25,000 people joined the Freedom not Fear march against surveillance and Internet filtering in Berlin. Timed just before the general election on 29 September, the march highlights the efforts of the German government, and in particular of the families minister, Ursula Von der Leyen, to put in controls on the Internet.

The Germans call it 'Internet Sperrung' - Internet lock-up - and some groups fear that plans already underway for Internet filtering to

Confidential leaked document reveal draconian plans by Germany's right-wing CDU party for 3-strikes and criminal enforcement of copyright, plus a new right to protect newspapers online.

Germany's Christian Democrat party, of which the Chancellor Angela Merkel is the leader, has set out plans to introduce graduated response / 3-strikes measures to support copyright in a pre-election manifesto that has appeared on Wikileaks. The document also calls for strengthened international cooperation against copyright infringement, and for the German police to get more resources to

A leaked document suggests that Italy is considering French-style 3-strikes measures, but they could be more wide-ranging. It also appears that the Italian government is backtracking on a proposal to consult users and consumer organisations.

Last October, the Italian government announced its intention to form a committee to review options for dealing with Internet copyright infringements. At the time, the Minister of Culture, Sandro Bondi, indicated interest in persuing a French-style 3-strikes proposal, but said that all interests, including consumers and users, would be included in a consultation process. Since then, the situation appears to have changed. I have pieced this story together from various media reports and from contacts in Italy.

It seems that in December, three members of the new committee - Comitato tecnico contro la pirateria digitale e multimediale - were announced. One was from the SIAE, which is the Italian collecting society

According to reports in the Italian media, Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has come up with a proposal to regulate the Internet. He wants to put it to a meeting of the G8 - the club of the world's leading economies - which he will be chairing from January. The rationale appears to be that the G8 already oversees the financial markets, and the Internet has no regulation. Berlusconi is also suggesting that Italy could take the lead.

However, it should not be overlooked that Berlusconi owns a large media empire, which is threatened by developments on the Internet.

Read the reports here:

Corriere della Sera

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