Slashdot Log In
France Seeks To Push 3-Strikes Law Across Europe
Posted by
timothy
on Fri Jul 04, 2008 06:25 AM
from the vive-l'somethingeruther dept.
from the vive-l'somethingeruther dept.
quanticle writes "As you may recall, France previously threatened to cut off broadband access for file sharers. However, after lobbying by the public, the legislation failed in the National Assembly. Now, the government of Nicolas Sarkozy is trying to revive the the measure by pushing it as an amendment to the pan-European Telecoms Package. This amendment has the potential to impose 3-strikes across Europe, not just in France."
Related Stories
[+]
Your Rights Online: Internet Pirates In France To Lose Broadband 388 comments
slyjackhammer writes "France is purporting to take a hard line on copyrighted media (movies and music). According to timesonline.co.uk, a new measure approved yesterday by the French Cabinet would kill the Internet connection to those caught downloading illegally. 'There is no reason that the internet should be a lawless zone," President Sarkozy told his Cabinet yesterday as it endorsed the "three-strikes-and-you're-out" scheme that from next January will hit illegal downloaders where it hurts. Under a cross-industry agreement, internet service providers (ISPs) must cut off access for up to a year for third-time offenders.' Google and video site Dailymotion have refused to sign up as consenting participants, and the state data protection agency, consumer and civil liberties groups and the European Parliament are all kicking against the goad as well. France may be pioneer in this kind of legislation, but they sure have their work cut out for them."
[+]
Your Rights Online: French Senate Passes Anti-Piracy Internet Cut-Off Law 225 comments
An anonymous reader writes "The French Senate has approved a three strikes law for Internet users who download copyrighted entertainment media without paying for it. If, after two warnings, a person continues to download pirated music and movies, the internet service providers would cut off access for a year. Quoting: 'The legislation passed with a massive cross-party majority of 297 votes to 15. Only a handful of conservatives, centrists and socialists voted against, while the Communists abstained. In passing the bill, the senators rejected an amendment proposed by senator Bruno Retailleau of the right-wing MPF party replacing internet cut-off with a fine. ... The bill sets up a tussle between France and Brussels. In September, the European Parliament approved by a large majority an amendment outlawing internet cut-off."
We discussed the introduction of this legislation several months ago.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Full
Abbreviated
Hidden
Loading... please wait.
Well, this is why France is not the United States. (Score:5, Interesting)
For fuck's sake (Score:5, Insightful)
Why are politicians so retarded?
You are there to represent the people and your country. If you find yourself having to subvert the will of your public, your constitution, your own justice system etc., then take that as a big fucking clue that YOU ARE WRONG and the best way for you to help is to STFU.
Re:For fuck's sake (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:For fuck's sake (Score:5, Informative)
In France, the money for presidential campaigns comes from taxes, is limited, and of the same amount for every candidate. But if you got less than 5% of votes, you have to give back this money to the government (this can be painful).
Parent
Re:For fuck's sake (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, and I forgot to say that they all have the right to the same amount of time on TV. And all of this is controlled and enforced.
(Well, that is in theory.)
Parent
Re:For fuck's sake (Score:5, Insightful)
And there is no way that lobbyists could get around this by lobbying the opinion formers (eg, the press) rather than by directly funding the political campaigns, is there?
Parent
Re: (Score:3)
Of course there is, but they don't; maybe because they haven't got the idea, because their morale is too high, or because they are afraid it would backlash their candidate.
I think the main difference between elections in the US and Europe is not the amount of regulation, but the amount of shit the electors tolerate.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Wrong. (Score:5, Informative)
The french law project which establishes an independant authority with power to ban users from the Internet (by cutting the Internet access) after three strikes has not failed to pass in the National Assembly : IT STILL HASN'T BEEN EXAMINED THERE !
It is scheduled to be examined soon by the Senate first and then eventually by the National Assembly. You can read it there in french : http://www.senat.fr/leg/pjl07-405.html
What is true is that right now the French ISP association (including every french ISP), the web services association (including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and such), the commission in charge of regulating telecommunications, the commission in charge of the defense of privacy and several others have all said they were against this law.
Besides, even though I can imagine Nicolas Sarkozy being pleased if there were european legislation copying his ideas, I don't see any particular lobbying from his part in the European Parliament. Just look at the amendments and who wrote them (in the IMCO, ITRE or LIBE committee).
http://www.laquadrature.net/files/amendements-compromis_ITRE-IMCO_7juil/
And I'm not even speaking of the usual fierce independance of MEP toward national governments. They're much nicer with regular lobbying groups, in this case the music and movie industries.
Write your congresscritter, EU-style! (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members.do?language=EN [europa.eu]
drill down the map until you get to the member page; there are three postal addresses at the bottom of page. I'd either write to them in Brussels or their constituency address, since they're only usually in Strasbourg once a month. There's an email contact too, at the top.
On a side note, I've actually been in the mailroom at the EP building in Brussels, and it's really nice. It's in a prominent position right on one of the main corridors between the offices and the hemicycle.
Shamed of being French right now (Score:5, Insightful)
Because I am.
Curiously, some French politicians are brilliant, but they're not part of the French government.
A French "European deputy" (for lack of a better name) has opposed this three-strike legislation, arguing (rightly so imho) that "an industry that is not able to make do with new consumer habits [the Internet]" shouldn't impose its rules to the government. The French government hasn't listened.
Michel Rocard is famous for opposing software patents. The French government hasn't listened.
French automobile club leaders, the least of which is not the president of the ACO (Automobile Club de l'Ouest, supervising the 24 hours of Le Mans) said that the pollution tax is a mistake, because one already exists and that's the TIPP (Taxe Intérieure sur les Produits Pétroliers, Internal Tax on Petrol-derived Goods, for lack of a batter name) that one pays for each centilitre of gasoline/Diesel in the tank, and that there's no reason than a guy driving only 3000 miles a year in his Ferrari should pay more than one driving ten times that in his Diesel Renault Logan. The French government doesn't listen.
Just, where has common sense gone?
Why "Three Strikes"? (Score:4, Funny)
Is baseball that popular in France?
Re:so we can hate the french again? (Score:5, Informative)
If you would hate just Sarkozy, it should be quite enough. Most French don't like him either (and no, not just because of filesharing).
Parent
Re:so we can hate the french again? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh trust me, the rest of Europe isn't too keen on him either
Parent
Re:so we can hate the french again? (Score:5, Insightful)
The rest of Europe (indeed, the rest of the world) should have no say in the democratic election, but is free to have an opinion on the resulting democratically elected official. After all (checking carefully for Godwin), the fact of his initial democratic election did not prevent much of the rest of the world taking a view of Adolf Hitler, did it?
Parent
Re:The worst since Berlusconi (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:so we can hate the french again? (Score:5, Interesting)
Most French don't like him either (and no, not just because of filesharing).
As a brit living in France for the past 12 years or so, this is one of the most annoying traits of the French vox populi. They forget very, very quickly that most of the French actually voted for him. His politics since he's been in power aren't that different from what he announced, and certainly not that different from his opinions in previous government positions. Short memory, and quick to criticise, the French - they did pretty much the same thing when Jacques Chirac got a landslide victory when most of them couldn't be bothered to vote and so Le Pen got to the second round.
Parent
Re:so we can hate the french again? (Score:4, Insightful)
Geez, he didn't get elected all that long ago. What did he do to piss everyone off so quickly?
Well, he just did what he promised to do : help rich people to earn more money, throw more and more dark skinned people in jail, etc ...
Indeed, at least 53% of french people can't read and vote for the candidate most seen on TV.
The problem is : all elections are over, president and national assembly are elected and we're stuck with him and all his friends for the next 4 years.
Parent
Re:so we can hate the french again? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:This and G8... (Score:4, Informative)
There are two kinds of democracies. Representative and direct. They go under the same name, but they are very different. Unfortunately, we are stick with the first type. People need to realize there is a difference between those types, and not rely on honesty of politicians.
There is an excellent book about direct democracy: http://www.democracy-international.org/book-direct-democracy.html [democracy-...tional.org]
Parent
Re:This and G8... (Score:4, Insightful)
Although I think direct democracy would have its own problems too - we'd be under the will of the masses.
There are some things that referendums are appropriate for (issues that affect everyone), but just look at what happens when you put questions like "Should gay people be allowed to marry" to referendums as I believe has happened in some US states.
I'm not sure how things would work in this case - whilst few people would care about the record industry and most people happily copy CDs/tapes, filesharing is still something only done by a minority of people AFAIK, and most people probably don't see the Internet as some fundamental need, so I fear that a proposal to ban filesharers (especially with a bit of campaigning that associates "filesharing" with not only "stealing", but terrorism and p0rn) would still get passed in a referendum.
Here in the UK, our unelected second house is the only thing that can stop some of the authoritarian measures the Government is pushing through (similarly with the unelected Supreme Court in the US being the thing which protects the Constitution).
Parent
Re:This and G8... (Score:5, Funny)
The problem with the public is this.
Think of how stupid the average person is; well, half of the public are stupider than that.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah. Some of them don't even know the difference between median and average :).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Regardless, the major problem with your analysis is to assume that people do indeed vote randomly. If it were the case, your argument would be spot on and one of democracy's biggest flaws would not be a source of concern. If uneducated people vote randomly, their votes basically cancel out (as your correctly pointed out) and smart people choose which policy will be implemented.
In the real wo
Re:Why do Politicians actually care? (Score:5, Insightful)
To anyone who's had their financial life destroyed by medical bills here in the US, I bet it sounds pretty good, actually.
Parent