Note: Article [es] by Derechos Digitales originally published in Spanish, translated by Silvia Viñas.

Creating, informing, and thinking differently have always been viewed with suspicion. Today, when the Internet and digital technologies multiply information channels and offer new ways to create, there are many arguments fueled by certain interests that seek to discourage the free use of these platforms.

Because of entities seeking to protect the interests of dominant content industries, the Internet is presented today as a hub for piracy which will destroy culture as we know it. These are the tenets of proposed laws like SOPA, ACTA or TPP [es], which, in an effort to protect a business model based on an increasingly restrictive system of intellectual property, disregard fundamental rights like online freedom of expression and privacy.

However, at the same time, a new digital ethic has emerged from everyday uses of the Internet, which sees in the Internet an opportunity for the democratization of culture, free circulation of ideas and new ways to create. This is an ethic where barriers between artists and their audience are blurred; ideas are valued, not by enclosing knowledge in an elite group, but rather by sharing with the community; and where there is a belief in a balanced approach to copyright which not only protects creators, but also ensures access to creative and intellectual works.

This is the platform we need to use, take care of and defend. That’s why we say: “Don’t Fear the Internet” (#NoTemasaInternet.).