Spain won their claim in Tampa, Florida in 2009 but Odyssey appealed the decision in
Atlanta. With the rejection of this final petition by the Circuit Courts Spain’s Culture Ministry said:

“With the ruling by the appeals court, the process begins to recover all of the coins taken illegally.”

“We’re not going to use this money for purposes other than artistic exhibition, but this is something that enriches our material, artistic capital and it has to be appreciated as such.”

The coins were originally lost on the Nuestra Senora de las, a navy warship that was lost when British ships attacked the Spanish fleet in 1804. The Spanish treasure has crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice now. Once in 1804 and then again when it was transported to the US in 2008.

With the recent shut down of MegaUpload, many users are lost as to whether or not they will be able to recover their files. The Pirate Party has set up a page where users affected by the closure can add their names to an investigation by Pirate Parties International to bring complaints against U.S. authorities.

The FBI has caused incalculable damage, far in excess of the losses claimed by the content lobbies, in a fruitless attempt to prevent access to the media content hosted on Megaupload, some of which they claim to have been infringing copyright under US law. However, as much of the unlawful content will still be available via other services on the web, this action not only shows us the futility of these measures but also serves as a reminder that these files are not necessarily, nor have been shown to be, illegal in any country, including the US.

In contrast, by closing the service they have impeded the access to millions of archives of both private individuals and organisations, potentially causing huge personal, economic and image damages to a vast number of people. In addition, the Pirate Party understands they may have violated Articles 197 and 198 of the Spanish Penal Code by misappropiating personal data.

The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim intended. For this reason Pirates of Catalonia, in collaboration with Pirate Parties International and other Pirate Parties [including the Pirate Party of the United Kingdom], have begun investigating these potential breaches of law and will facilitate submission of complaints against the US authorities in as many countries as possible, to ensure a positive and just result.

Those who had legitimate files on the file sharing network can add their name to the list here.

The NYT reports that the three people have all been identified as “local leadership” in hacktivist group Anonymous. One of the detained is a 31-year-old man who has been the target of an investigation stretching back to October of 2010. That investigation was started after hackers targeted the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s website.

From the NYT:

He had a computer server in his apartment in the northern port city of Gijón, from which the group attacked the Web sites of the Sony PlayStation online gaming store.

The same computer was also employed in coordinated cyberattacks against two Spanish banks, BBVA and Bankia, the Italian energy company Enel, as well as government sites in Spain, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand, the police said.

When the original PSN hack occurred Sony hinted that Anonymous was responsible, citing their prior conflicts with the group and a “We are Legion” file left behind by the hackers.

Anonymous quickly responded with an online letter of sorts. They said that the “We are Legion” file was a plant, put there to implicate Anonymous. They also hinted that by blaming them, Sony was simply attempting to cover up for their own failings. They also provided this argument, stating that it was against what they stood for to tamper with credit card info, as it was hinted that the PSN hackers did:

In the realm of criminal investigation, there is an important aspect of investigations that should never be overlooked. The “modus operandi” of a criminal rarely changes. Whoever did perform the credit card theft did so contrary to the “modus operandi” and intention of Anonymous. Public support is not gained by stealing credit card info and personal identities, we are trying to fight criminal activities by corporations and governments, not steal credit cards.

Later, some veteran members of Anonymous spoke out about the attacks. They said that just because Anonymous didn’t officially sanction the hacks, it doesn’t mean that members of Anonymous weren’t responsible:

If you say you are Anonymous, and do something as Anonymous, then Anonymous did it. Just because the rest of Anonymous might not agree with it, doesn’t mean Anonymous didn’t do it.

This news comes just days after a BBC interview with Sony’s Computer Entertainment Chief Kaz Hirai. In that interview, he said that Sony may never know who orchestrated the attacks that brought down the PSN.

With regard to the 100 million [compromised] accounts, we do know the information was accessed, we don’t know however what part of the 100 million accounts were taken from our servers. For example, it might be 100 million first names, it might be 100 million last four digits of a phone number, it could be the entire account information, we just don’t know, but I think the people that intruded our systems were very good in hiding their tracks as they left our systems, so we may not know for a very long time or we may never know.

The Google Merchant Center is in large part what makes Google Product Search work; it’s a site that allows businesses to submit data product feeds, ensuring that users see up to date information.

This led Kirill Kounik, a product manager responsible for the Google Merchant Center, to recommend in a blog post, "If you’re a new merchant and would like to start submitting your products to Google for Spain, Italy, or the Netherlands, we recommend checking out the ‘Getting Started’ articles in our Help Center, and then reviewing the data feed instructions and requirements for your target country.  Existing Merchant Center users now have the option to select Spain, Italy and the Netherlands from the target country drop-down menu when registering their feeds in the Merchant Center."

Kounik also noted, "As we launch in new locations, we want it to be easy for you to make your products accessible to customers around the world.  Our data requirements differ by country, so you can now view the data feed specifications for all countries in your native language by using the drop-down box on the top of the Data Feed Specification help article."

These may be significant steps for Google.  Google Product Search isn’t something the average person uses every day, but together with offerings related to maps, news, and financial info, the tool helps make the company’s brand more appealing.

Don’t be surprised if Google’s global market share increases as a result.

Yesterday, the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (or AEPD for short, if you start with the Spanish version of its name) alerted a court in Madrid that Google allegedly committed five offenses in violation of the country’s privacy laws.

The maximum fines for each offense range between €300,000 and €600,000, and when tallied up, equal €2.4 million (or about $3.3 million).

This is obviously meant to be more than a slap on the wrist, then.  Of course, from Google’s perspective, $3.3 million isn’t a massive amount, considering that the corporation had $33.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of September 30th.

Then one other possible silver lining is that AEPD’s just cracking down on Google’s collection of WiFi data, not Street View as a whole.

Still, if Spanish authorities are turning against Google to the point of hitting it with enormous fines, that’s not a great sign for the company’s international reputation.

Telecinco had accused YouTube of violating its intellectual property rights by broadcasting images that the TV station owned.

"YouTube is not a supplier of content and therefore has no obligation to control ex-ante the illegality" the Madrid court said in its ruling.

“Its only obligation is to cooperate with the holders of the rights in order to immediately withdraw the content once the infraction is identified."

Google, which owns YouTube called the ruling “a clear victory for the Internet and the rules that govern it,” on its European Public Policy Blog.

“More than 24 hours of video are loaded onto YouTube every minute. If Internet sites had to screen all videos, photos and text before allowing them on a website, many popular sites – not just YouTube, but Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others – would grind to a halt,” Google said.

Google said YouTube respects copyright laws and wants artists, publishers and media companies to succeed online. It said it hopes to work with Telecinco in the future in the “in the spirit of copyright protection, content distribution and new opportunities.”

Telecinco had accused YouTube of violating its intellectual property rights by broadcasting images that the TV station owned.

"YouTube is not a supplier of content and therefore has no obligation to control ex-ante the illegality" the Madrid court said in its ruling.

“Its only obligation is to cooperate with the holders of the rights in order to immediately withdraw the content once the infraction is identified."

Google, which owns YouTube called the ruling “a clear victory for the Internet and the rules that govern it,” on its European Public Policy Blog.

“More than 24 hours of video are loaded onto YouTube every minute. If Internet sites had to screen all videos, photos and text before allowing them on a website, many popular sites – not just YouTube, but Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others – would grind to a halt,” Google said.

Google said YouTube respects copyright laws and wants artists, publishers and media companies to succeed online. It said it hopes to work with Telecinco in the future in the “in the spirit of copyright protection, content distribution and new opportunities.”

Telecinco had accused YouTube of violating its intellectual property rights by broadcasting images that the TV station owned.

"YouTube is not a supplier of content and therefore has no obligation to control ex-ante the illegality" the Madrid court said in its ruling.

“Its only obligation is to cooperate with the holders of the rights in order to immediately withdraw the content once the infraction is identified."

Google, which owns YouTube called the ruling “a clear victory for the Internet and the rules that govern it,” on its European Public Policy Blog.

“More than 24 hours of video are loaded onto YouTube every minute. If Internet sites had to screen all videos, photos and text before allowing them on a website, many popular sites – not just YouTube, but Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others – would grind to a halt,” Google said.

Google said YouTube respects copyright laws and wants artists, publishers and media companies to succeed online. It said it hopes to work with Telecinco in the future in the “in the spirit of copyright protection, content distribution and new opportunities.”

Telecinco had accused YouTube of violating its intellectual property rights by broadcasting images that the TV station owned.

"YouTube is not a supplier of content and therefore has no obligation to control ex-ante the illegality" the Madrid court said in its ruling.

“Its only obligation is to cooperate with the holders of the rights in order to immediately withdraw the content once the infraction is identified."

Google, which owns YouTube called the ruling “a clear victory for the Internet and the rules that govern it,” on its European Public Policy Blog.

“More than 24 hours of video are loaded onto YouTube every minute. If Internet sites had to screen all videos, photos and text before allowing them on a website, many popular sites – not just YouTube, but Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and others – would grind to a halt,” Google said.

Google said YouTube respects copyright laws and wants artists, publishers and media companies to succeed online. It said it hopes to work with Telecinco in the future in the “in the spirit of copyright protection, content distribution and new opportunities.”

Obviously, this isn’t good news for Google.  Aside from the fact that the case is still active at all, the speed at which things are moving forward is a little disconcerting.

Raphael Minder explained in a report this morning, "The judge, Raquel Fernandino, has ordered a representative from Google to appear before her in early October over a lawsuit filed by a Spanish association of Internet users.  The summons was issued last month but made public only this week."

Minder also wrote, "The judge’s investigation is the most serious threat to date in Spain for Google and its mapping service.  But Street View had already raised concerns among local regulators.  In June, Artemi Rallo, director of the Spanish data protection agency, Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos, said in an interview that Google should hand over the original hard drives containing the actual Wi-Fi payload data . . ."

Maybe Google’s meeting with the judge will let it resolve all this sooner rather than later, anyway.

Some of the company’s best lawyers are no doubt planning to either travel to Spain or at least coordinate with local colleagues ahead of the hearing.