Posted Nov 05, 2008 at 01:22PM by Jon G. Listed in: News Tags: piracy
Ó

Pirates - Image 1They be closin' in, matey!

Bad news for any French person suspected of illegally downloading content off the Internet. The French Senate voted 297 to 15 in support for a controversial anti-piracy initiative. It's still not a law yet, mind you, as the bill still has to go through the French National Assembly. If it becomes law, and it looks rather likely at this point, it will work like this:

As reported by Edge online on the bill's contents, if that user is found to have been illegally downloading copyrighted material, they would have one strike counted against them. Three strikes and you're out. More specifically, your entire household will be out. No more access to the Internet.

A governmental body called The High Authority for the Diffusion of Works and Protection of Internet Rights would be in charge of this whole operation and will have the authority to suspend or ban the French Public on grounds of "suspicious behavior."

The bill is not exactly a new one. It's been recycled in and out of the French Parliament several times now and was previously rejected by the EU citing an infringement of civil liberties. That this follows in the wake of the recent American PRO-IP anti-piracy law is probably not a coincidence, if I were to hazard an opinion.



Related Articles:


[Via French Senate] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

Bookmark / Find this article on:


12 Comments


Sort by:
   by Advertising -
   by emcp - 2008-11-05
 » mm

VERY WORRYING,

NOT THE PIRACY BIT, THE CIVIL RIGHTS

im usually for this sort of thing, but this is a bit iffy to me, i think theres better ways than just cutting off from the internet, a fine would be one, imprisonment even

because theres many other alternative ways to access the internet, causing those households to be blocked, not mentioning restriction to your household, seems totally unfair, why should someones education depend on their family (yes the internet can be educational)

to me theres no way this should get anywhere

   by housy1011 - 2008-11-05
 » What if your a University....

kinda unfair on a French university if a couple of users are illegally downloading stuff meaning that the whole campus gets cut off....


   Re: raggedjimmi - 2008-11-05
 » -

Oh come off it. Why would they bar a whole university IP? If it was in a shared environment then the admin or whoever would simply block the specific computer(s) from using their internet. Think on.

Anyway I'm in full support for this.
   by MARTINSTATIC - 2008-11-05
 » Haha

Haha imagine getting banned of the net cos you downloaded 3 MP3's.
Ah, thank god I live in Ireland, a country so technologically inept, that they call MP3 players MP3's.
And DVD's CD's. Haha, ah poor French haxx0rs...


   Re: emcp - 2008-11-06
 » mm

HAHA

the top half of ireland ;), is 10x worse

anyway didnt get the last part
   by Rok - 2008-11-05
 » But in the end..

The pirates will win, im 95% sure..


   Re: shabghai360 - 2008-11-06
 » I agree.

Its not those that download but those who offer it.
Now this may appear simplistic but how many people when walking the street if they see a 100 dollar not on the floor will ignore it? How many will pick it up and feel lucky?
In fact it would be theft as someone else dropped it.
In this simplistic view I agree people get punished and pirates go free.
   by DarkXCloud - 2008-11-05
 » ...

They are invading our privacy :X It's on the 4th ad..

wait... what about the US? Does this affect the US?


   Re: Koolaidsred1 - 2008-11-05
 » yer

well is the US in France? If not then I think we are fine lol :)
   by sunny05550 - 2008-11-05
 » WoW!

Thank God i live in INDIA, and the network provider are so lousy, our network IP changes every day....
Poor French.....:-(
but there are still so many ways to download Copyrighted materials...

   by MARTINSTATIC - 2008-11-06
 » ...

They are invading our PIRACY!...wait ahem, I meant PRIVACY. ;)


   Re: Sniper666 (Unregistered) - 2008-11-09
 » .....

good call Martinstatic good call.... %u2660
(insert spade)


Add QJ.NET
Add to My Yahoo!
Google Reader Subscribe with Bloglines
Add  to your Kinja digest Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Subscribe with Pluck RSS reader Add 'www.qj.net' to Newsburst from CNET News.com
Subscribe with SearchFox RSS del.icio.us www.qj.net
Add to Technorati Favorite! Add to My AOL
furl! it Stumble for Treehugger!