In Portugal we have a new bill implementing a tax on mass storage devices called PL118. I’m not going into the details on how this law is absurd. I want to talk about how to fight this.
I’ve learned about people doing petitions, facebook pages, or what not. The thing is, these people respond to money (being politicians or SPA managers). From what I can tell this bill has bi-partisan support and most likely will get approved. Contrary to the US, here in Portugal, politicians do not respond to petitions or mass calling to their offices, or even website boycotts. In fact, unless you have deep pockets, there isn’t much citizens can do to influence decision making.
So what can we do, as the People? Well I can tell you what I will do. Stop giving money to artist. If you don’t agree with this bill, and in fact gets approved into law, stop buying albums or going to the cinema. Steal the shit of their stuff. Keep stealing until they have so little or none profit from their work. Stop going to their concerts, or summer festivals. Hurt them where it hurts the artists the most. This kind of action can be equated to terrorism, but we need to put the pressure where it can affect decisions. SPA needs to change its stance, and for that we need the artist on our side.
The problem is, no one will do this. Like with every law, Portugal is a country of dull people. We will accept blindlessly this law and accuse the government of hurting them. Summer Festivals will get atendents and people will go to concerts and the movies. There will be no repercussion from this law, only to our pockets.