Piracy and terrorism

While trying to fight piracy in Spain, the powerful have tried to do lots of things, like trying to treat P2P users like criminals, getting an extra tax on blank CDs/DVDs (and even hard disks), etc. But what I just saw is just too much: Telecinco, a Spanish TV channel, is broadcasting tonight the Diario de… show, which this week will be about the “relationship between piracy and the March 11th terrorist attacks in Madrid”.

I haven’t seen it yet, so will comment on it later, but I have been following all the investigations about those terrorist attacks, and there are lots of other things to explain before we get to this sort of FUD, which, IMO, is just about getting people so ashamed of buying pirated CDs/DVDs that they will just stop doing it (remember Spain is one of the countries with more music piracy, there are lots of people selling pirated CDs in the streets). Also, since Mercedes Milá is conducting the show, even though I’ve never watched it, I am sure it will be just a reality show, with no base at all.

I am also against piracy, but there are many ways they can fight it (like selling the CDs/DVDs much cheaper) than just spreading FUD, which in fact, as with lots of other “official news”, just deviates the people from the real truth about those terrorist attacks. Please, fellow Spain habitants, don’t believe what is said there, if you really want to know about those horrible terrorist attacks we all suffered last year, I’d suggest a few books:

• La jugada maestra, Bruno Cardeñosa
• 11-M – 14-M Onda expansiva, Rosa María Artal
• 11-M Claves de una conspiración, Bruno Cardeñosa
• Cómplice inocente, Iván Chirivella

I won’t comment on those books, since the last time I blogged about politics, some people got very angry, filling my inbox with lots of mails, so I promised I wouldn’t do it again. But this show, which I guess lots of people in Spain will watch, was important enough to just post some tips.