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Government Censorship Your Rights Online

Spain's Hologram Protest: Thousands Join Virtual March In Madrid 143

An anonymous reader writes Thousands of people marched past a parliament building in Madrid to protest a new law that they say endangers civil liberties. But none of them were actually there. From the article: "Late last year the Spanish government passed a law that set extreme fines for protesters convening outside of government buildings. In response to the controversial Citizen Safety Law, which will take effect on July 1, Spanish activists have staged the world's first ever virtual political demonstration. After months of massive flesh-and-blood protests against the so-called 'gag law', thousands of holograms last night marched in front of the Spanish parliament in Madrid."
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Spain's Hologram Protest: Thousands Join Virtual March In Madrid

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  • UK solution (Score:3, Interesting)

    by abies ( 607076 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @04:09AM (#49461543)

    Few years ago, when teachers were protesting against low wages in UK, protest was routed through biggest commercial street in London (Oxford Street). Before it has reached the end, half of the people protesting was gone, shopping (they came from all over UK, so being able to visit all the shops, both discounts and posh ones was a real treat).

    • by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @04:46AM (#49461607)

      Few years ago, when teachers were protesting against low wages in UK, protest was routed through biggest commercial street in London (Oxford Street). Before it has reached the end, half of the people protesting was gone, shopping (they came from all over UK, so being able to visit all the shops, both discounts and posh ones was a real treat).

      If it passed a pub they'd have lost the other half too

      • From experience, that's usually what happens on the way back :)

      • by Anonymous Coward

        Funnily, Oxford Street, despite being a mile long or more, only has one pub on it.

    • Few years ago, when teachers were protesting against low wages in UK, protest was routed through biggest commercial street in London (Oxford Street). Before it has reached the end, half of the people protesting was gone, shopping (they came from all over UK, so being able to visit all the shops, both discounts and posh ones was a real treat).

      If people can be swayed by a sale tag, then I will gladly laugh in their damn face as to the "protest" being attempted.

      I don't even know why they have to pass gag laws with the sheep being this easily distracted.

      • Few years ago, when teachers were protesting against low wages in UK, protest was routed through biggest commercial street in London (Oxford Street). Before it has reached the end, half of the people protesting was gone, shopping (they came from all over UK, so being able to visit all the shops, both discounts and posh ones was a real treat).

        If people can be swayed by a sale tag, then I will gladly laugh in their damn face as to the "protest" being attempted.

        I don't even know why they have to pass gag laws with the sheep being this easily distracted.

        Fuck you. They all had to take a day's unpaid leave. If, having made their political point, they want to go shopping or get pissed, why the fuck shouldn't they in their own time?

    • by Misagon ( 1135 )

      How in the world did the parent to this post get modded "Score:5 Interesting"?

  • by luvirini ( 753157 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @04:11AM (#49461549)

    In too much of the world today other things than humans have more rights.

    This ranges from corporations having many/most of the rights of humans in many countries, while at the same time only having to pay fines for crimes where humans would be put to jail. And ranging to things like the compensation values of different things you do when damaging humans compared to damaging property.

  • Sigh (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Trogre ( 513942 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @04:26AM (#49461575) Homepage

    No holograms showed up. This is a pepper's ghost illusion apparently performed with a projector and semitransparent material.

    But I guess "hologram" nets more clicks.

    • by philgp ( 584302 )
      Haha, yeah. Just like the "holographic" Liam Neeson in Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds stage show.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      And they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!

    • No holograms showed up. This is a pepper's ghost illusion apparently performed with a projector and semitransparent material.

      Exactly. This is fake news. Holograms that can can be projected into and move through empty air do not exist except in science fiction. This "march" did not happen.

      I read a lot of science fiction, but I do like to actually distinguish what is real and what is Star Trek.

      How did this show up on slashdot, a site for self-proclaimed nerds, which is to say, people who actually care about real technology?

    • Re:Sigh (Score:4, Informative)

      by Al Al Cool J ( 234559 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @10:24AM (#49463299)

      First, projection onto a semitransparent material is not a pepper's ghost illusion. Pepper's ghost is a reflection onto a 45-degree transparent screen.

      Second, you are confusing implimentation with representation.

      Full coulour video holograms are science fiction. The technology to create them doesn't exist and probably won't within our lifetime. But many representations of hologram individuals are commonly referred to as holograms, and nobody questions or challenges this.

      For example, Arnold Rimmer on Red Dwarf and the EMH Doctor on Star Trek Voyageur are universally accepted as holograms, as is the projection of Princess Leia in Star Wars that was produced by R2-D2. I've never heard any nerd or pedant challenge this. But none of these holograms were made using holography. Rimmer and the EMH were just actors standing on set. Very occasionally they would use visual affects to indicate their hologram-ness. The projection of Princess Leia was also a visual effect. They weren't created using holograms. They represented holograms.

      Likewise, this protest involved representations of holograms, created using non-holographic means (because there is no other way to do it). They are as much holograms as any character that is universally referred to as a hologram.

      If this was a protest involving people waving toy lightsabers around, I don't think many pedants would complain if the media called it a lightsaber protest. You'd sound kind of stupid complaining that they weren't using "real lightsabers". So I don't know why people get so irrationally bent out of shape over representations of holograms.

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      Maybe they are actually flat. The Spanish get more exercise than we do.

  • by wrmrxxx ( 696969 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @04:30AM (#49461583)
    The Spanish government may as well be honest about the purpose of this law and add quote marks where they belong: "Citizen Safety" Law. I don't know whether to see this protest as a clever stunt (it got our attention after all) or as an admission of defeat. It's all very easy to say from the safety and comfort of my couch, but it does kind of give the appearance that the government has got their way here.
  • From the article: "Late last year the Spanish government passed a law that set extreme fines for protesters convening outside of government buildings. In response to the controversial Citizen Safety Law, which will take effect on July 1

    I thought the Generalissimo was dead? Or are we back to him "valiently holding on in his fight to remain dead"?

  • by luismontbau ( 2694229 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @04:46AM (#49461611)
    The Law is restrictive, for sure, but so are the reasons for its existence. Spain is afflicted by both an old-fashioned right and a just-right-of-Stalin left. We have nothing like the social-democrats of Nordic countries. When the left rules, there is absolute peace and nobody protests, no matter how badly the government is mangling the economy and destroying jobs. When the right wins, there are protests within the protests whether they're doing OK or not. And not peaceful, civil protests, no, violent and extremist ones. It's pure 'Agitprop'. The right, then, issued this law to take a powerful tool from the hands of its political enemies, and the left is enraged. Spain remains, sadly, as divided as ever...
    • by Viol8 ( 599362 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @05:56AM (#49461731) Homepage

      The reason there are more demonstrations with right wing governments in power anywhere is that the sort of hard left types who demonstrate are usually young , angry and naive. Right wing voters are usually more mature and protest in other ways when a left wing government is in power.

      • by St.Creed ( 853824 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @06:52AM (#49461849)

        It may also have something to do with the attempts by the conservative government to remove peoples rights (said law is a good example), including abortion rights. And their economic policy is a mix of insane boondoggles (transporting water from one part of the country to another) and attacks on trade unions.

        That doesn't mean the economy shouldn't reform, but the current proposals are, IMO, pretty one-sided.

        • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

          by Mashiki ( 184564 )

          That's interesting, since there's an entire new breed of college and university kids that are left-authoritarians and believe that your rights should be restricted in order to protect their feelings from being hurt.

          • by Viol8 ( 599362 )

            Amen to that. Wish I had mod points.

          • by dryeo ( 100693 )

            Was that who it was that pushed through the anti-privacy laws, including being able to access our browsing habits from the ISPs with no oversight, to stop bullying?

      • Actually in most countries it is the oposite around. So I really doubt it is the case in Spain.

      • The reason there are more demonstrations with right wing governments in power anywhere is that the sort of hard left types who demonstrate are usually young , angry and naive. Right wing voters are usually more mature and protest in other ways when a left wing government is in power.

        And for proof of this, all you have to do is look at General Franco's regime, where the mature-but- fun-loving right wingers certainly never demonstrated or used violence in any way. Oh, wait...

    • This view is heavily biased to say the least.

    • by znrt ( 2424692 )

      this poster above must be the equivalent of a teabagger. just to put his bullshit in context.

      the spanish "left" has been a minority since franco. there is no real viable "left" alternative as much as there isn't any in the us, where calling democrats "left" would be a big stretch (that would be in spain the official workers party, for which "socialism" is just a funny part of the name, and just equally corrupt as the right.)

      the part about protests is just outright lie. while there's little positive to say a

      • by znrt ( 2424692 )

        to add to this, there is a brand new political force in spain ("podemos", literally "we can") that is expected to overturn both traditional (right/lefty right bipartisanship) pro-stablishment parties. this is an absolute novelty. this new political party does have some "left" ideology although it declares itself neutral (go figure). it's supposedly a grassroots party made up of simple citizen, and there is a very real chance they get to power. main program points are emergency mitigation of social impact of

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Were any riot police killed by their own crossfire as they attempted to execute the protesters?

    • This is not the USA, the police doesn't use nor carry guns to protests... But now that you mention it, let me tell you how it goes here: the center-left protestors march and chant, carry flags and banners, and go about their business without anything more violent than shouts. The extreme-left activists, of which there are always plenty, then proceed to attack the police with Molotov cocktails, rocks, iron bars, destroy and burn everything around their path, there are always tens of policemen hurt every time
      • Double-yu to the aitch, to the double oh ess aitch. WHOOSH!

        You're completely missing the joke. You can't shoot holograms.
  • Protecting the Mob (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mentil ( 1748130 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @05:02AM (#49461631)

    I look outside my manse window and see the hooligans shouting and pumping their fists into the air, and wonder, what is the benefit of it all? We've already bought the media, we control the message, so what do they think they're going to incite? The age of protest is dead, the age of tribute is begun. The ones who have the gold make the rules, as the richest voices get to shout loudest; of course, we make sure we're on the right side. And if we get to profit a bit from the arrangement, so what?

    The Citizen Safety Law, contrary to its detractors, IS accurately named. The only thing protest is good for nowadays is trashing, looting, and injuries whenever it gets out of hand. Now bereft of purpose, the mob is only able to produce negative effects; this law simply dissipates the chaos before it can cause any harm.

    /satire

  • slacktivism 2.0? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Karmashock ( 2415832 ) on Monday April 13, 2015 @05:46AM (#49461705)

    Politicians respond to anything that seems harder. Why they don't respond to emails so much as letters. You mailed a letter... it is harder then popping off an email.

    So a virtual protester doesn't mean much. Just saying.

    • Way to miss the point.

      Showing up in person to protest at a government building without explicit permission from the government has been made illegal. Projecting images of protesters is a means of highlighting the fact that those protesters are no longer allowed to be there in person.

      • Oh you're not allowed to protest? Well, that's never happened before... and certainly protestors always follow the letter of the law when they're forbidden to protest.

        Seriously... In California we have people show up to protests with handcuffs and gas masks. They put the gasmask on and then handcuff themselves to something.

        It has become so common that police and construction workers make sure to keep a pair of bolt cutters on hand so they can cut the handcuffs off.

        And the really serious protesters sometimes

        • If it's so ignorable, why is it getting international news coverage now? The law was passed last year, after all. The goal was to draw public attention to an unfair law and they're accomplishing exactly what they set out to do.

          This has nothing to do with slacktivism. It's a well thought out way of highlighting what's being done to the people's rights in Spain.

          • Just because we hear about it doesn't mean anyone else gives a shit about.

            And more to the point, just because someone sees your crap doesn't mean it will have any effect.

            This is something you learn in advertising as well as politics. Just getting a lot of attention is often COMPLETELY worthless. What you want is your objective to happen.

            What is that? if you are an activist for something then you want something to happen. If that thing happens because these guys are doing this... then you got me, I was wrong

        • Yes, even the art of demonstrating is bigger and better in the US.
          • I wouldn't go that far... I'm sure there are some protesters in other parts of the world that aren't complete jokes... including people in Spain. Just THOSE people with their projector are pointless.

  • ...will not be tweeted.
  • Meanwhile, All officials were at home laughing their asses off.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.”

      - 1984

  • The 20th century has been repealed. It's over. Back to kings, merchant princes, and ghostly immortal power structures.
    Kind of glad I'll be dead soon.

  • SWAT: "Computer, end program."
  • I'm surprised the equipment is not removed by the authorities. They won't let you assemble in person, but, they will let someone setup and run equipment for projecting 'holograms' on the premises? I'm surprised!

    In my opinion, this looks like a great novel approach to giving people a way of making themselves 'heard' if you will without all of the problems usually associated with a large gathering of indignant/angry people.

    It will be interesting to see if this becomes more widespread

    Kudos to the "Holograms fo

  • "the Spanish government passed a law that set extreme fines for protesters convening outside of government buildings. In response to the controversial Citizen Safety Law"

    If anyone wonders why the Founding Fathers wrote in absolutist terms in the First Amendment, this is why.

    They knew charismatic demagoguery and outright sophistry were easy tools to use to override rights.

    "Congress shall make no law...abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of gr

    • "Congress shall make no law...abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

      Well it's not difficult for a government to turn a peaceful demonstration into a violent one, all you need to do is get the police to attack with batons and break a few limbs and you'll generally get a response. And you can then declare a riot and martial law.

      I do sometimes wonder at the naivety of Americans who think that the Constitution in itself can prevent fascism.

  • "Due to your antics, you will all be fired and replaced with a hologram."

  • so now plain old 2d video projections are called holograms? it's bad enough that we have to refer to radio control toys as robots and drones.

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