EU Telecom Deal Finished — No Three Strikes 109
a_n_d_e_r_s writes "The battle was hard, but the final text of the agreement ensures that people in the EU are not disconnected from the Internet without a chance to get a fair and impartial hearing beforehand. The important part is: 'Accordingly, these measures may only be taken with due respect for the principle of presumption of innocence and the right to privacy. A prior fair and impartial procedure shall be guaranteed, including the right to be heard of the person or persons concerned, subject to the need for appropriate conditions and procedural arrangements in duly substantiated cases of urgency in conformity with European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The right to an effective and timely judicial review shall be guaranteed.' This means that if someone is accused of copyright infringement, they can't just be disconnected from Internet. It lets the accused get a chance to disagree and take it to court first. The urgency clause means that a computer can be disconnected if it is part of an ongoing DDoS attack. Next, this has to be implemented into the EU nations' own laws, so the final ruling on how this will be implemented is not out yet. But, overall, it looks like a great success in stopping informal three-strikes disconnections."
Re:Impartial? (Score:5, Funny)
According to my law guidebook "a prior fair and impartial procedure" involves an adversarial legal setup with two legal teams. Each team drains its client's bank account as fast as money transfer technology makes possible and the first client to go bankrupt loses the case.
Re:Court System Strain (Score:5, Funny)
Tough tooties. If 90% of your population is criminalized as a result of legislation you pass, perhaps you should reconsider that legislation? But that isn't what will happen. The people this law was written for (the content holders) will kick and scream until the government agrees to 'streamline' the process. And we'll be right back to DMCA or 3 strikes style laws.
Sounds remarkably like the behaviour of a 2 year old.
And what happens when a 2 year old gets their own way all the time? That's right, they become spokesmen for the world's recording and movie industry.
Re:Electricity (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Electricity (Score:4, Funny)
You can pull the holier than thou act all you like, but you were the one that started the insults, so it rings a bit false. Allow me to remind you:
"Let me know when you join us in this century and come back from the land of overly optimistic baseless hypotheticals."
I said nothing remotely insulting before that point. So, I also forgive you and hope you resolve your girlish passive aggressive tendencies, princess.