This clause reversed precedent set by a 2008 European Court of Justice’s ruling in Promusicae v. Telefónica barring IP holders from demanding the identity of copyright infringers from ISPs.

[2][4] Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría said that the aim of the law was "to safeguard intellectual property, boost our culture industries and protect the rights of owners, creators and others in the face of the lucrative plundering of illegal downloading sites.

[7] In February 2008 the US Embassy in Spain sent a cable back to Washington indicating they planned to tell the Spanish government that they would appear on the Watch List of the Special 301 Report if they did not take significant steps to reduce internet copyright infringements.

[2] In November 2009 the Spanish government proposed a new copy protection law, the Sustainable Economy Bill, in order to address many copyright infringement issues across the nation.

[2] After being stripped from the Sustainable Economy Bill, politicians worked to revise Ley Sinde into a form that would be able to obtain passage through both the Congress and the Senate.

[10][11] Work continued on implementing the law over the course of 2011, though political struggles within the government led by President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero derailed final enforcement of the bill.

See Politics of Spain for more information) Due primarily to issues related to the global financial crisis, a new government was elected to replace that of President Zapatero.

[13] The United States, as discovered in the release of another leaked cable, raised the stakes considerably for the incoming Spanish government indicating that if the Sinde Law was not enforced Spain would be placed on the Priority Watch List in the upcoming Special 301 Report.

[17][18] FACUA-Consumers in Action, a Spanish, non-profit, non-governmental organization, also launched an anti-Sinde campaign under the slogan: "nonprofit exchange of cultural works has always been a socially and morally accepted practice".

Several hundred people, loosely organized by the Internet group Anonymous, showed up at the red carpet event wearing Guy Fawkes masks and called for the resignation of Ángeles González-Sinde.

[5][15] Just after Ley Sinde was enacted in December 2011, individuals claiming affiliation with Anonymous also published private information about Spaniards thought to have supported the law.