VZCZCXRO8538
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHMD #0843/01 2111305
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291305Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5185
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000843 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB/TPP/IPE JOELLEN URBAN 
STATE PASS USTR CHRIS WILSON 
STATE PASS COMMERCE DON CALVERT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ECPS KIPR SP UK
SUBJECT: SPAIN:  INTERNET SURVEY PROJECT 
 
REF: LONDON 1814 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary: After consulting with rights-holders, the Embassy 
 
has identified seven main websites as most likely to be used 
for the purpose of uploading and/or downloading copyrighted 
materials considering accessibility, ease of download, and 
anonymity. Based on what we have found, it is fairly easy for 
Spaniards to obtain access to pirated media over the internet. 
Internet user anonymity  remains a large legal obstacle in the 
enforcement of Spanish piracy regulations. Negotiations between 
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content providers have 
aimed to address this issue in recent months as part of a 
larger effort to stem internet piracy. Spain also continues to 
look towards the examples of neighboring countries in making 
decisions on internet piracy policy.  Our overall assessment is 
that there is extensive illicit copyrighted material available 
for Spanish consumers, although we make no judgment regarding 
whether there is more or less such material available for 
consumers in other countries. End Summary. 
 
Embassy Internet Project 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Spain has a major internet piracy problem. The country was 
 
placed on the Special 301 QWatch ListQ in 2008, largely because 
of this issue.  The purpose of this project is to evaluate the 
nature of pirated content marketed to and available to the 
Spanish consumer, and to attempt to determine the facility 
which with Spanish nationals can acquire pirated materials over 
the internet. Online music and movies are the primary focus of 
this project. Due to the growing number of Spanish households 
with broadband internet access, in addition to the availability 
of efficient playback software, music and movies have become 
the primary concern with respect to online pirated materials. 
This project was carried out with the aid of several 
organizations from the movie industry, music industry, and 
intellectual property rights groups in Spain. Among those who 
provided information on questionable web pages were the Motion 
Picture Association (MPA), the Federation for the Protection of 
Intellectual Property (FAP), General Society of Authors and 
Editors (SGAE), and Producers of Spanish Music (Promusicae). 
 
¶3. (SBU)  With the information provided by these Organizations, the 
 
Embassy identified seven main websites as most likely to 
attract Spanish consumers considering accessibility, ease of 
download, and anonymity. Three of the webpages have been 
identified for downloading movies, three for downloading music, 
and one page, www.vagos.es, has been noted by all of the above 
mentioned content provider organizations for its movie and 
music download popularity. (Note: The Embassy surveyed these 
websites but did not actually upload or download any material.) 
 
¶4. (SBU)  The websites appear mostly to be operated out of locations 
 
in Spain.  Technically, it does not matter where they are 
located.  However, rights-holders have told us that, in theory, 
it should be less burdensome from a legal standpoint to block 
consumer access to sites operated from outside Spain.) 
 
Movies 
------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) www.elrincondejesus.com is a traditional webpage based 
in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia. This 
page offers  download links from various P2P systems including 
eMule and BitTorrent. One must, however download execute 
applications that access the P2P networks specified in order to 
download content. In order to access download information, 
users must register with the web page and login. Registration 
information includes: nickname, email address, password, 
occupation, country, postal code, sex, year of birth, and 
sector of employment. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  www.fase6.com is a traditional webpage with links to 
streaming video online. Movies do not have to be downloaded and 
can be viewed almost instantly, depending on the internet connection 
 
available. This page uploads movies daily, popular new and old 
releases and targets Spanish audiences. This site is very easy 
to access. There is no need to sign in, log on, or provide any 
information in order to access 100 percent of the content. 
Users just have to click on the link and the video starts to 
play. 
 
 
MADRID 00000843  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) www.sharemula.com is a page based in the southern Spanish 
region of Andaluca that offers links to a variety of media on 
the eMule P2P network. Types of media include software, music, 
movies, and eBooks in PDF format. Upon registration, users have 
access to links available for download through the eMule 
application. This page uses P2P networks to facilitate movie 
downloading. The content on this site is more difficult to 
access because one must both sign into the webpage with a login 
and password and additionally download and execute the eMule 
application in order to acquire pirated content. 
 
Music: 
----- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  www.elitemp3.net is a traditional webpage. Upon login, 
users have access to a variety of full music albums. The siteQs 
selection includes American and Spanish albums, but its 
language and themes suggest the site is geared towards a 
Spanish audience. The availability of songs and albums for 
download can be viewed by any internet user but download links 
and physical downloads are only available to registered users. 
Registration information includes: username, password, email 
address, country, postal code, age occupation, and sector of 
employment. Users are also given the option to join various 
email lists. According to Promusicae, this site contains 3537 
albums, has 263,342 users, and 6,600,000 downloads. In 2008, 
Promusicae reported that charges have been pressed against this 
site. 
 
¶10. (SBU)  www.ddr.mforos.com is an online message board. This site 
 
also offers access to movies, series, etc. in addition to 
music. The site was however originally noted for music piracy. 
The music section of the site contains threads for various 
albums, both Spanish and English. Upon entrance into the 
thread, a listing of songs on the album and a link to a Qone- 
click hosting siteQ (pages that store large-size files for 
their users, i.e. Rapidshare.com, Megaupload.com) appears. 
According to Promusicae, this site contains 3000 albums, has 
70,964 users, and has been visited over 21,000,000 times. 
 
¶11. (SBU) www.posteando.com is an online message board with various 
 
themes including video games, software, literature, and 
multimedia. The multimedia section of the site contains both 
movies and music for download. The music section is organized 
in a manner where each thread specifies a download link for a 
certain album or song. The music section of the page also 
contains a thread where users can request download links from 
other users. Any internet user can view the locations of the 
content in question. It is necessary, however, to have a 
profile to post on the forum and thus be able to both post 
links and ask for links. According to Promusicae, this site 
contains 5000 albums and currently has 65,729 users. 
 
Special Note 
------------ 
 
¶12. (SBU)  www.vagos.es has been noted by both music and movie 
industry representatives as well as intellectual property 
rights organizations in Spain. For this reason, it receives 
special attention as a notorious provider of pirated materials of 
several kinds to its users. This site is an online message 
board based in the Balearic Islands. Music and movies are just 
two sections of the site. Other sections include general 
discussions about sports, humor, cars, and technology, and do 
not always contain pirated material. The music and movies 
sections include links uploaded by users of the site. Links are 
mostly to Qone-click hostingQ pages such as Megaupload and 
Rapidshare. Visitors who have not signed up with the web site 
are only able to view one post from one message board, 
therefore only having access to download one piece of media. In 
order to see more than one message, users must register with 
the web site and login. Information needed to register 
includes: name, password, email, country, postal code, sex, 
occupation, and industry. 
 
Analysis: 
-------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) After a general review of each of these internet pages, it 
 
is clear that it is not difficult for Spaniards to obtain 
access to pirated movies and music over the internet. In 
addition, users can usually do so anonymously. Most of the 
pages visited required the provision of a user name and email 
address, from neither of which could a true identity be 
verified. However, rights-holders have told us that this should 
not be an insurmountable obstacle to restricting service to 
 
MADRID 00000843  003 OF 003 
 
 
internet service subscribers suspected of trafficking in 
copyrighted material, i.e. rights-holders can provide suspected 
IP address detectors without knowing the name of the person 
behind the address.  In theory, this should provide a way for 
ISPs to limit or eliminate service to internet service 
subscribers without breaking Spanish privacy laws, although 
they do not appear to be convinced. Additionally, the fact that 
pirated materials sometimes appear on sites that are mainly 
geared towards discussions on lifestyle and leisure 
(www.posteando.com) poses an additional risk to rights-holders 
in that some internet users otherwise unlikely to seek pirated 
materials may opportunistically download pirated products 
through these sites. The QlifestyleQ sites are geared mainly 
towards teens and adults in their 20Qs. Popular music and movie 
titles found on these sites are rarely more than twenty years 
old. This fact, especially in regard to music, points to the 
fact that the majority of both uploaders and downloaders fall 
into the age groups specified. The organizational structure of 
media downloading in Spain seems to be dominated by independent 
sites that allow users to post links, or more simply 
instructions, on how to download the content from a third 
party. The third party download sources generally fall into one 
of two categories: one-click hosting sites or peer-to-peer 
(P2P) applications. The most common P2P applications among the 
sites reviewed are eMule, which runs on the eDonkey network, 
and BitTorrent, a P2P system that allows users to share the 
costs (hardware, memory, download time) of uploading and 
downloading content. The most common one-click hosting sites 
were Rapidshare and Megaupload. These sites offer users to 
upload large size files onto their network space and make the 
files available for download to other users. While these sites 
are meant for personal use and legal sharing of non-copyrighted 
material, they are being used by a growing number of people to 
distribute pirated content. 
 
Comment: 
------- 
 
¶14. (SBU)  After a number of years of increasing complaints from 
rights-holders about internet piracy, the Embassy thought it 
would be valuable to try to see what is available to Spanish 
consumers. From our survey of the internet, it is clear that 
rights-holders have a point. Access to pirated material over 
the internet does appear to be quite extensive. We make no 
judgment as to whether more or less illicit content is 
available in Spain than in other major economies, only that 
such content is indeed available here.  Moreover, a generation 
of Spanish internet users has become used to using the internet 
to access movies and music, some of which is legally available 
over the internet, but much of which is not available legally 
through the internet.  Rights-holders sometimes describe the 
Spanish government and ISP pressure on content providers to 
offer legal internet alternatives as a Qred herring.Q  In part, 
they may be right.  We suspect, however, that any deal between 
ISPs and rights-holders or any new legislation aimed a 
protecting copyright over the internet will have to include an 
element of more legal alternatives, much as was described in 
reftel in the case of the United Kingdom. 
 
AGUIRRE