Complex sentence: Despite being initially presented as a technical text, the law became hotly controversial, being perceived as criminalising Internet users for sending files of copyrighted works to each other, as well as being a threat to free software.
Split into simpler sentences: Despite being initially presented as a technical text the law became hotly controversial. It became perceived as criminalising Internet users for sending files of copyrighted works to each other, as well as being a threat to free software.