Current events

The conference examined the state of a sector, which keeps on growing despite the economic crisis. The expansion of social networks, online gaming, on-demand cinema distribution and content distribution networks is undergoing important development. Proof of this, as one speaker pointed out, is that the most recent Flickr count will account for 500,000 million photographs. Further information that illustrates this point is that newly created videos posted in a single month on YouTube exceed all TV programmes broadcast over the last sixty years on US television.

The conference, organised under the framework of the IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) with the support of Francis Lefebvre Publications, has analysed the political and legal implications of online entertainment. Legal aspects, such as data protection, intellectual property and consumer protection and other policies, such as access to public information and democratic action on the Net were discussed.

Experts agree when they say that we are seeing a sector that is transforming the entertainment industry. They also highlighted the differences between the English-speaking and European legal systems and the importance of flexible regulations for encouraging companies in the sector. There was much discussion about the solution not involving the closure of virtual platforms.

One of the areas where there are differences on both sides of the Atlantic is copyright.The conference was attended by leading figures, such as Greg Lastowka –Professor of Law at Rutgers University (USA) and author of Virtual Justice (Yale University Press, 2010) – who reminded the conference that virtual economies generate 6,000 million dollars a year. Lastowka criticised the state of copyright in the virtual arena. “The value of a virtual platform is created by the users,” he recalled, going on to criticise the fact that it is the platforms that benefit from this content and not their creators. “Platform owners and creators have to share the profits. We should be talking about moral rights, not economic rights. There needs to be greater copyright protection,” he concluded.

For his part, Fred von Lohmann, Google's senior intellectual property manager, criticised the fact that current legislation offers no satisfactory response for new virtual creators, a space where copy is essential for digital relations. He also called for less strict European legislation. “We need flexible copyright that goes beyond limitations and exceptions. If the growth of the internet has taught us one thing,” he said, “it's that we need to leave room to experiment.” Von Lohmann named three countries (the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands) where the governments are reforming the law to promote innovative companies. “We need to think of a more extensive framework and the type of innovation economy we want. We need copyright that encourages and promotes new creation systems.”

Another aspect debated by the conference was the regulation of online gaming. Francisco Pérez Bes, lawyer and Vice President of the National Association of Expert Lawyers in ICT Law (ENATIC), admitted that new online gaming regulation is “hugely influential” and said that “it has been incredibly politicised right from the start.” For his part, Alberto Palomar, lecturer in Public Law at the Carlos III University, stated that this sector “is still in nappies” and did not hold back from criticising current legislation. “It doesn't help much. The Spanish legislator is getting into a mess.” By saying this, Albert Agustinoy, the lawyer and law and new technologies expert involved in the sector's regulation process, recognised that the process “has been much more arduous than it appeared to be”, and criticised the constant changes. “The improvisation by the authorities has led to uncomfortable situations. We have been living in an existential legal roller-coaster.”

Laws that condition

The lecture on the second day of the conference was given by Pedro A. De Miguel Asensio, professor of Private Law at the Complutense University of Madrid and a leading figure in the field of internet law. De Miguel Asensio highlighted the existence of different protection standards and the problem consumers face with the application of origin legislation for global operators, the majority of whom are established in the United States. He also explained how none of the large global operators who operate online have set up in Europe and believes that “perhaps the law has a lot to do with how the EU regulation framework is being applied.” “The danger is that it's making it difficult for operators to work because of this restrictive regulation framework designed to protect consumers,” he said.

With regard to another polemical issue of privacy on the Web, José Luis Piñar, lecturer in administrative law and former director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency, reminded the conference that we are experiencing a change of paradigm and that “in this new reality, privacy must be guaranteed”. For his part, Antonio Troncoso, lecturer in constitutional law, highlighted the fact that social networks have become a powerful tool for political action, although he recognised problems with privacy. “Privacy is essential to the European construction project,” he said and then went on to refer to the “good project” of the new EU Regulations that will update the current ones in this field. For her part, Esther Mitjans, director of the Catalan Data Protection Authority, said that “the new digital world has to lead to new rules.” “To date, data protection laws have not been designed to protect us from ourselves. And this is one of the challenges with social networks,” she admitted. “The problem,” she said, “is that Europe could have rules which enable its economic development.”

In this sense, María González, director of Google's Legal Department for Spain, Portugal and Greece, criticised the negative economic effects of restrictive legislation: “Regulation should not be an obstacle to innovation. But economic uncertainty poses a problem for its development.” “In the sphere of privacy, regulation should not be based solely on data protection, but also on the consequences at economic level,” he concluded.

At the end of the second day, Ignacio Alamillo, director of the Astrea Consultancy, which specialises in electronic signature and cryptography, presented the main conclusions of the conference. “As we have seen during the conference,” he said, “we're able to anticipate the need for greater and improved regulation, one that is realistic and balanced: more harmonised regulation within the EU and much better coordinated with US legislation, without renouncing the constitutional principles and rights of our tradition.”