| X.net | |
|---|---|
X.net logo |
|
| Formation | 2008 |
| Type | Activist group |
| Legal status | Active |
| Location | Barcelona, Spain |
| Website | [1] |
X.net, known as the eXgae until November 2010, is a Spanish non-profit platform that supports and develops alternative models for cultural diffusion and royalties distribution and defend Net Neutrality as a tools to increase democracy. It also lobbies politically at the national and international levels, through legislative proposals and viral campaigns.
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The oXcars' are a non-competitive awards ceremony held at Sala Apolo in Barcelona, Spain, in October each year. They are a public showcase that puts the spotlight on cultural creation and distribution carried out under the paradigms of shared culture.[1] Through presentations and symbolic mentions of works in a series of categories, the oXcars uses parody as a strategy for showing real legal solutions. The award categories include: Music, Animation, Theatre, Human Tools, Future Markets and Great Leftovers of Spanish Culture, among others.[2]
The FCForum is an international conference organised by X.net and a network of other groups and activists. It brings together organisations and experts in the field of free/libre culture and knowledge, with the aim of creating a strategic global framework for action and international coordination. It takes place annually in Barcelona.
The first FCForum was held in Barcelona from October 30 to November 1, 2009, to coincide with the 2nd oXcars awards ceremony. The principal organisations and active voices in the world of Free Culture and knowledge participated in the event.[3] A series of working groups at the Forum produced a unique document known as the “Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge,”[4][5] which proposes a series of reforms to the Spanish Intellectual Property legislation, Telecoms Package and other issues related to the circulation of information and net neutrality. The Charter was sent to a thousand governments and political and social institutions around the world.[6] International bodies such as the European Union Committee on Culture and Education and the Government of Brazil (through the Department of Digital Culture) sent official observers to the Forum.
The second FCForum was held in Barcelona from October 28 to 31, 2010, and focused on the new models of sustainability in the digital era. Two documents were drafted as a result of this event: the “Sustainable Models for Creativity and the How-To Manual for Sustainable Creativity'.
The D’Evolution Summit was created as a civil society response to the European Forum for Cultural Industries, organised by the Spanish Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, which was held in Barcelona on March 29 and 30, 2010. Authorities, experts and lobby groups participated in the Forum, which focused on five core themes: financing and the cultural industries, intellectual property and royalties management, strategies for the internationalisation of culture, culture and territorial development, and the profiles and skills for culture industry professionals.[7]
The Forum for Cultural Industries lent continuity to the International Conference on Economy and Culture held in May 2009, and took place just before the informal meeting of the 27 Ministers of Culture of the European Union on March 31 within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the EU.
The D’Evolution Summit was a counter-summit organised at the same time, to demand amendments to Spain’s Law of Sustainable Economy (known as the anti-downloads law) and an end to the monopoly of copyright collecting societies.
During three days, the D’Evolution summit organised Internet broadcasts of the proceedings of the Forum for Cultural Industries and the Informal Meeting of Ministers, staged concerts by groups who use free licences, and carried out actions such as the handing out music with free licences to hairdressing salons and the action “We won’t carry the bucket for an industry that refuses to adapt to reality” in which the comedian Leo Bassi dressed up as a clown and tried to give a giant inflatable duck to the ministers of culture.[8] D’Evolution also organised viral campaigns and provided information on the topics being discussed at the Forum through social networks.[9]
Parents are the Pirates is a self-published collective book consisting of contributions by fifty authors who were invited to write or illustrate, in 400 words or less, one of the following topics:
The book was launched at the first oXcars, in October 2008. It was published under a 2008 season Poetic Licence and is distributed by independent publishing house Traficantes de Sueños.
X.net provides legal advice on copyright, licences, the Spanish levy on private copying, private copies, P2P, copyright collecting societies, broadcast rights and other issues relating to the digital society. They provide artists with information about the licences they can use to cover their work without becoming dependent on a collecting society. They also advise businesses that are being sued by Spanish collective society SGAE and want to know their rights and obligations.[10]
On August 2, 2010, lawyers from Spain’s largest copyright collecting society, the SGAE, sent a certified fax to the eXgae demanding they shut down the domain name exgae.net and suspend their activities, alleging infringement of the SGAE brand and unfair competition.[11] In the interests of avoiding a long and expensive legal battle, the collective changed its name to X.net, although it continues working in the same sphere of activity.