A Spanish intellectual property law has finally banned unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing in Spain, making it a civil offense even to download content for personal use.
The legislation, approved by Congress on Thursday, toughens previous provisions. An early May circular from Spain’s fiscal general del estado, or chief prosecutor, allowed downloads for purely personal use.
Now Spaniards caught grabbing content from, say, eMule, will have to reimburse rights holders for losses — although such losses will be difficult for authorities to track.
But the government is going after Internet service providers; it’s a criminal offense for ISPs to facilitate unauthorized downloading.
