Xnet

Xnet

Xnet logo
Formation 2008
Type Activist group
Legal status Active
Location
Website http://xnet-x.net

Xnet is a non-profit platform that develops and promotes alternative models for cultural dissemination and royalty management. Its activities revolve around five core themes: free culture, Internet neutrality, technopolitics, network democracy, and new models of sustainability for the digital era. Xnet also engages in political lobbying at the national and international levels, by preparing and submitting legislative proposals and viral campaigns.

Initiatives

XMailbox

Because of the leaking of the e-mails that lead to the investigation and court complaint against Miguel Blesa (former president of Caja Madrid), the Xnet decided to improve create an anonimous mailbox (Buzón X) at the disposal of those who hold relevant information about corruption. This mailbox allow the citizens to send information secure and anonimously for it to be studied by journalists and lawyers.[1]

PILA

The PILA Network is the International Platform of Alert Triggers, a collective that brings together personalities and associations known for filtering and making public large scale corruption cases and bad economic and financial practices. Among its founding members are the french lawyer William Bourdon; the former employee of HSBC in Geneva and Italian-French whistleblower Hervé Falciani, Stéphanie Gibaud, former employee of UBS, the french journalist Edwy Plenel from the independent news website Mediapart, and the Australian Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).[2]

15MpaRato

15MpaRato is a citizen platform launched by Xnet in order to collect and spread information for naming those responsible for the crisis in Spain.[3] It was created on May 16, 2012 by launching a public campaign for a complaint against Rodrigo Rato and other management positions at Bankia.[4]

Their main objective was to get a court complanint against Rodrigo Rato and the rest of the board of directors of Bankia. They presented a complaint that was finally accepted by the National Court in Spain and Rodrigo Rato and Bankia were officially accused of fraud in what the media called "The Bankia Case".[5] The trial is nowadays (March 2015) still going on.

Catalonia’s Working Group Against Corruption

On January 2015 is presented at the Catalonia's Parliament a Working Group agains corruption. Their objective is to coodrinate the efforts of different people working against corruption in an active and coordinated network. The Group is composed by Xnet (coordination and representation), David Fernández, as president of the Parliamentary Commission on the “Pujol Case” and CUP-Parliament‘s deputy, the 15MpaRato group, Hervé Falciani, and citizen's associations that fight against corruption.[6]

oXcars

Main article: Oxcars

The oXcars' are a non-competitive awards ceremony that is 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.[7] 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.[8]

FCForum

Main article: Free Culture Forum

The FCForum is an international conference organised by Xnet 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.[9] A series of working groups at the Forum produced a unique document known as the “Charter for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge,”[10][11] 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.[12] 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'.

D'Evolution Summit

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.[13]

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.[14] D’Evolution also organised viral campaigns and provided information on the topics being discussed at the Forum through social networks.[15]

Parents are the Pirates

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.

Legal advice

Xnet 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.[16]

Change of name

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.[17] In the interests of avoiding a long and expensive legal battle, the collective changed its name to Xnet, although it continues working in the same sphere of activity.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "XMailbox: leaks against corruption". Xnet.
  2. ↑ Mincuzzi, Angelo. ""We have evidence of more scandals, other banks will be involved" Hervé Falciani says". Italy 24.
  3. ↑ "Dossier: Historia de lucha contra la corrupción de 15MpaRato, Xnet y la Comisión Anticorrupción del Partido X." (PDF) (in Spanish).
  4. ↑ Goodman, Amy (12/07/2012). "Spain's 99% occupy Madrid against Rato's banking and Rajoy's austerity". The Guardian. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ↑ González, Andrés; Rodríguez Piedra, Blanca. "Spain opens fraud case on ex-Bankia chief Rato". Reuters. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  6. ↑ Güell, Oriol. "Entidades, activistas y partidos crean una plataforma contra la corrupción". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "La gala de los oXcars exalta la circulación libre de la cultura". El País. October 23, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Las categorías y los eXponsors". La-EX. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Barcelona organiza el I Foro internacional de Cultura Libre en la sociedad del conocimiento". Europa Press. October 20, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Carta para la innovación, la creatividad y el acceso al conocimiento". FCForum. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  11. ↑ "Propuestas para innovar en la reforma de Ley de Propiedad Intelectual". El Mundo. January 29, 2010. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Mil instituciones del mundo recibirán una Carta aprobada en Barcelona por la Cultura Libre en Internet". Europa Press. April 14, 2009. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  13. ↑ "Foro Europeo de Industrias Culturales". Ministerio de Cultura. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Leo Bassi intenta entregar un pato de goma gigante a los ministros europeos de Cultura". Europa Press. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  15. ↑ "Internautas españoles preparan una cumbre alternativa a la de ministros de Cultura". Europa Press. March 22, 2010. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  16. ↑ Blanca Salvatierra (April 13, 2009). "Internet se organiza para defender el derecho a compartir". Público. Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  17. ↑ "SGAE contra Exgae: exigen el cierre del sitio web activista por un 'conflicto de marcas'". El Mundo. Retrieved March 7, 2011.

External links