Spain’s Second Section of the Intellectual Property Commission, a part of the country’s Ministry of Culture, has ordered the blocking of several domains of the Archive.today service, a web archiving service.
It means that most Spanish internet users who try to access the site are redirected to a government page telling them that they are trying to access an “illegal” website.
The page, with the heading “ESTÁ USTED INTENTANDO ACCEDER A UN SITIO WEB ILEGAL” (“YOU ARE TRYING TO ACCESS AN ILLEGAL WEBSITE”), goes on to accuse the user of “facilitating illegal access to content protected by intellectual property rights” by visiting the site.
The full text of the accusation against the user is: “El acceso a esta página ha sido bloqueado mediante Resolución de la Sección Segunda de la Comisión de Propiedad Intelectual” (“Access to this page has been blocked by a resolution of the Second Section of the Intellectual Property Commission”) because of “facilitar ilegalmente el acceso a contenidos protegidos por derechos de propiedad intelectual” (“illegally facilitating access to content protected by intellectual property rights”).
The page then warns that by trying to access the content, the user “está contribuyendo a una actividad ilegal y delictiva, y poniendo en riesgo su seguridad, la de sus datos y dispositivos” (“is contributing to an illegal and criminal activity, and putting at risk your own security, that of your data and devices”).
The alternative offered to the user is to “si opta por acceder a contenidos de fuentes legales, contribuye a la creación artística, a la mejora del producto cultural y al desarrollo de la economía” (“if you choose to access content from legal sources, you are contributing to artistic creation, improving cultural products and developing the economy”).
The blocking of the site was first reported by the Spanish website Banda Ancha. The blocking reportedly began in mid-August with some operators, and then others followed.
The order to block the site was given by the Intellectual Property Commission, but the complaint was filed by an unnamed rights holder, while the case is not a court ruling, but an administrative decision. The block affects not only the main Archive.today domain, but also its mirrors: Archive.is, Archive.ph, and Archive.li.
Blocking an entire service to reach one offending entry is not a new tactic in Spain. The same method has been used against sites carrying sports broadcasts, which Reclaim The Net has covered extensively.
The report also said that the affected domains did not appear on the list of blocked sites that the Ministry of Culture publishes and which was last updated on September 11.
According to the report, the blocking was done in line with a protocol signed in 2021 by the Ministry of Culture, a group of rights holders, and major ISPs, who undertook to block “mirror” sites within 24 hours of receiving notice from a Technical Committee.
Archive.today is a service that saves snapshots of web pages, allowing users to view sites and articles that have been removed or altered, or are behind paywalls. It is a valuable tool for researchers and journalists, as it preserves evidence of what was once on the internet.
