Protests against downloads bill cripple political websites

Today's presentation in Congress of the "Sinde Law," which would give courts the power to shut down websites facilitating downloads of films and TV programs, sparked cyber-attacks against government and political party websites yesterday.

The law, informally named for Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde, is just one part of the draft Sustainable Economy Law, and proposes an Intellectual Property Commission to deliberate on cases of illegal piracy. Consumer protection group Facua sent a petition to deputies arguing that the law was drawn up "at the behest of the multinationals that dominate the cultural industry and the US government."

Under the slogan "politicians censor webs, we'll shut the politicians down," the websites of several major parties were subject to denial of service attacks by protesters on Monday, while on Sunday download sites shut down en masse to give users a glimpse of the dark days to come if the law succeeds. Estimates say that internet traffic in Spain dropped by half during the blackout.

On Monday, the government and its CiU supporters were working on an amendment to tone down the anti-download bill.