French Senate Passes Anti-Piracy Internet Cut-Off Law 225
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.
(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:5, Funny)
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyway, if my internet is disconnected then I'll be forced to do productive stuff like read books and hit the gym...and if I need the internet that badly then I'll get it in my girlfriend's or roommate's name.
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:5, Informative)
By the way, while I could not find the reference to the parliamentary action noted above, the summary is way off in its assessment of the weight of the European Parliament's action. The EU does not have the power to outlaw these kinds of things, only to issue directives that the member states transpose into their laws. The parliament itself is the weakest of the three European institutions, and if we are in traditional first pillar decision making in this case, its amendments do not really mean anything until the Council has approved them. In many cases, the Council can just reject an amendment and pass the legislation in its original form, or at the very least force the EP into negotiation. Historically, the EP yields to the council as soon as the Council makes an issue of something.
Once a piece of legislation (we'll assume that this is a directive and that the EP's amendment stands) is approved, France still has quite a long time (in general, 3 to 5 years) to transpose the directive. Only once this time limit is reached can any hypothetical tussle between France and the EU begin. These are, however, very rare as the EU is ultimately an inter-state, diplomatic body. It would require that either (a) the Commission place a complaint before the European Court of Justice, (b) that the French courts themselves ask the ECJ to interpret the situation, or (c), that another member state accuses France of not fulfilling its obligations.
None of these situations are very likely over something this insignificant. The Commission is aware that it depends on the good will of the member states to accomplish its duties. The French courts are historically reticent to ask the ECJ for opinions. Member states have attacked each other in front of the ECJ on less than a dozen occasions AKAIK as such actions are politically very sensitive.
In short, I would not hold my breath for a Eurocrat in shining armour to save the French internet users.
Please forgive my misuse of technical vocabulary in this post, my studies are in French.
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Wait, what ?
Just because the USAsian system doesn't work out, the alternative should be this ? I'll tell you something: In Germany, state attorneys apparently have enough of the music & film industries' claims and apparently only act if hundreds to thousands of files are shared [netzpolitik.org] (link in German).
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:4, Funny)
Don't forget the neighbours WiFi
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:5, Insightful)
It sucks that we haven't taken the steps to create a citizens mesh network to replace the centrally managed networking we're relying on. Bitching and moaning isn't going to do anything if you're still materially dependent on systems under other peoples control.
Take the steps to build a mesh network by the citizenry for the citizenry, then when they start passing laws to shut it down and sending the police out to force everyone to stop, THAT is when you should be protesting. Well, probably fighting on the defensive rather than protesting, but you get the idea.
At this point, the only thing stopping this from happening is the laziness of a citizenry who would rather demand their rights to be dependent consumers be affirmed than actually take responsibility and take effective steps to remedy their situation.
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:(Cynacism Alert) Good (Score:4, Insightful)
The only way to deal with the problem would violate too many laws. The US is too corrupt at that level and there are too many people in the country who are too goddamn clueless to make any meaningful change since in eyes of the law on election day and other things the clueless idiot's opinion carries as much weight as the education person's. Through political activism, etc you might make some advances, but probably not before you and are I long in the ground.
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"At this point, the only thing stopping this from happening is the laziness of a citizenry who would rather demand their rights to be dependent consumers be affirmed than actually take responsibility and take effective steps to remedy their situation."
Most people are too ignorant of technology, it's not that they are "lazy", most have no idea of the implications of what is going on. So companies simply take advantage of the ignorance of a population at the time of the net's development. Most people are no
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What are you smoking?
Show me some LARGE mesh networks. There were some attempts, but most seem to fall apart once the person that built them goes away. Mesh networks are hard.
So you're going to do this with your home wifi router, with crappy range, that won't even cross the road between your neighborhood and the next? How are you going to go between cities? Most people would rather take the capitalist approach: hire someone to do it for them. Then you're just forming an ISP, and you're back to where we are
Bad. (Score:3, Insightful)
A censored internet will look nothing like the free net of '92. It will look like broadcast TV because the same people who censor that will be deciding who gets kicked off.
Passing a Law Against What Everyone Does (Score:4, Insightful)
Passing a law against What everyone does is a risky affair. Sure, legislators have to go along with the concept that recorded media is property. As in the idea that a corporation can actually own a song or a movie, which is quite absurd, although accepted. A slight change in a note makes a different song, a minor re-edit or re-filming of the same plot makes a different movie. Which according to the bizarre theory of corporate ownership of 'intellectual property' creates an entirely new piece of property.
Add to this strange notion that everyone has the means to quite easily break this so-called law, since computers and telecommunications are ubiquitous, and you have a situation where it is easier to break a law than it is to obey it.
Which is not a stable situation. The law enforcers must either ignore the law in general, focus its enforcement on a specific minority group, or enforce the law equally against everyone. Enforcing against everyone changes the conditions that law is supposed to protect and is almost never done. Choosing between non-enforcement and selective enforcement is often a matter of culture. I would believe that the French law enforcement will not enforce this law against French citizens, only against foreigners and then only when the foreigners break other laws (or act outside of French cultural norms) and this law becomes one more weapon that can be used to make them conform.
Americans on the other hand are basically punitive people. Laws like this are specifically focused on targeted minorities for the specific purpose of incarcerating them for profit into private prisons, to steal their property, and to destroy their political clout. An example is the use of the drug possession laws being used to re-enslave the African-American non-middle-class youth. Each year the drug penalties get harsher and more focused on Blacks while White youth are given warnings and probation for the same 'offenses'. In America, copyright laws will be primarily used against young people who protest against any government actions.
These laws are perfect for that purpose. They can be widely broken with no ill effect to society as a whole (like the marijuana laws), and still be enforced brutally against specific individuals and groups. As long as the mainstream of people can continue to download music and movies without hassle, they will accept harsh punishments for the same downloading activity against young people who demonstrate against the government.
If McCain is elected, expect the criminalization of file downloading and harsh penalties applied against only the people who actively oppose government policies. This is the American way of doing things and there are many historical precedents for using harsh laws against harmless activities in this manner.
Your analogy stretches credibility a bit. (Score:2)
By the way, although your rhetoric about re-enslaving black people in the US was quite vogue in the 1990's, I lik
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Lead us to freedom, Uncle Tom!!
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No?? Think again... Here's a few choice words from some who responsible for those laws...
"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US, and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos, and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz, and swing, result from marijuana use. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers, and any others."
"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana is its effect on the degenerate races."
"Reefer makes dar
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They use code now. We can simply use "us and "them". What you do think "welfare queen" means? Or "crime-ridden neighborhoods"? You might here some people even use the word "Canadian". And of now course you hear the word "dangerous" and "inexperienced" and "real, hard working Americans". The reasons to maintain prohibition have not changed one bit. As it is obvious to any rational person that it's not for public health. Otherwise alcohol and tobacco would be long gone. As the original post said, these laws a
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Obama is not half-anything, he is a U.S. Citizen by birth, born on 4 August 1961 at the Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Re:Passing a Law Against What Everyone Does (Score:5, Informative)
If McCain is elected...
Bla bla bla...The DMCA was signed into law by a democrat. It was a republican, probably more than one, that helped to keep Clipper chips out of your computers. In fact one of the louder voices was McCain's. This is not an endorsement. I dislike him more than most people do. But let's try to remember from who's trough both sides are feeding from. And also don't forget that Joe Lieberman, as a democrat, most likely had the patriot act waiting in the wings long before Bush showed up on the scene. These people from either side are not your friends. We need a serious purge.
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Correct. Rock on, iminplaya.
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.
Assuming everyone does it is a risky business - assuming they will continue on with it after being warned twice is also a risky business.
Sure, legislators have to go along with the concept that recorded media is property. As in the idea that a corporation can actually own a song or a movie, which is quite absurd, although accepted.
As absurd as the F/OSS programmer who thinks his GPL license is enforceable?
A slight change in a note makes a diffe
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Wow what a wild assertion. Got anything to back that up? FUD much?
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> I would believe that the French law enforcement will not enforce this law against French
> citizens.
You're missing the point. This particular law precisely tells French citizens that, as far as "piracy" is concerned, law enforcement is to be directly done by private interest holders like the french RIAA equivalents. This negate the rights of each and every french citizen to have such matters decided in a court of law.
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Please be sure to speak for yourself only and not assume that "everyone" does it.
Ok, everyone except you. Now take your treat and get back to work obedient citizen.
Re:Passing a Law Against What Everyone Does (Score:5, Interesting)
Please be sure to speak for yourself only and not assume that "everyone" does it.
Maybe not everyone, but a majority does in some age / sex brackets. Here's the latest stats [www.ssb.no] from Q2 2008 here in Norway in percent of Internet users (which is 84% of all households, the rest mostly very old people). And they didn't have a category for those under 16 either:
File sharers: 19%
Males: 25%
Females: 12%
16-24: 47%
25-34: 31%
35-44: 13%
45-54: 5%
55-64: 1%
65-74: 0%
While the data isn't on that level, with a 2:1 ratio of males to females and 47% in the 16-24 age bracket overall, I'd estimate about 62% of males and 31% of females 16-24 do file sharing. That's right, if you're a young male and don't file share, you're probably in the minority. Note that this is the "file sharing" numbers, it's NOT the "watched youtube online" numbers. And while there's always the assumption that people will "settle down" when they get older, I think this trend will only continue as today's file sharers grow older.
Re:Passing a Law Against What Everyone Does (Score:4, Informative)
Grr. And of course the wrong table was in the copy-paste buffer, this [www.ssb.no] is the right one, you'll see the numbers I quoted in the column "Utvekslet musikk, filmer ved fildeling" which directly translated means "Exchanged music, movies by file sharing".
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That certainly seems likely to me. When I was a kid, videogames were a thing that was done mostly by children. These days the average gamer is over 30 years old. I fully expect that number to continue treding upward as I age until the rate of videogame playing matches the current spread of TV watching among all age groups.
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Sorry, but your math is off, which means your conclusion is off.
If only 19% are file sharers, then 4 out of 5 are NOT (81%). Of the 19%, 47% are the aforementioned under-age kids sitting in their parent's basement (or now down to 9% of the statistical universe). And of THAT number, 66% (2/3) are probably male. All given your numbers.
So even young male 16-24's are 2/3's of 1/2... of 1/5th (got to keep that other 81% in mind). As such, "sharers" in the minority no matter how you slice it.
Yep, "everyone" is do
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Knowing the USofA reasonably well I would say that if this isn't a purposely followed policy it at least is one result of present practises in the US.
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I'll take the cynical stance and say that this is a good thing. We need fewer people on the Internet. We need to return the 'net to the state it was in circa '92.
Not only that, there's a bonus:
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."
Anything that creates contention with the undemocratic EC is a good thing indeed. Especially when it's the French, who have been it's staunchest advocates.
Bring back one man, one vote!
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I'll take the cynical stance and say that this is a good thing. We need fewer people on the Internet. We need to return the 'net to the state it was in circa '92.
Absofreakinglutely correct!
With all of this distributed crap, we've lost the best of it. Sigs - bah! A dreary shadow of finger. I want my gopher holes back. I want to use tin. I'm still ok with the @ for email and automatic routing (sure, bang routing was fun, but it was too traceable by the unwashed (read, the boss)). Let's get stochastic about it - like God intended.
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Common sense? (Score:2)
This is akin to if you'd murder someone with a knife for the third time, they'd not let you cut your own bread for a year...err, actually you wouldn't be able to cut your own bread for far longer than a year, seeing that you'd be in a maximum security prison...but anyway.
That really was a horrible example, someone want a car analogy?
Re:Common sense? (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure. It's like getting caught driving drunk in the US. They'll give you a fine, even though you are putting the lives of all around you at risk. They might even throw you in jail for the evening until you sober up. When you finally end up killing someone because of your drunk driving, the government might maybe, begrudgingly, take your license away.
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Not quite. I closely know a guy in jail now, for 2 years (3 years probation after that), because of 3 DUI's. He never had a wreck and never killed anyone.
You won't get it taken away the first time, but after the 2nd or 3rd, you will.
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In Michigan, I believe you lose your license for a year.. the first time.
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Re:Common sense? (Score:4, Insightful)
Car analogy:
You are a truck driver. You are caught on 3 occasions driving your truck through a gas station to skip a traffic light, regardless of whether or not you actually stopped to buy gas (in some states in the US, this is considered an illegal use of private property). As a result, you are prohibited from using public roads. Whether for driving your truck or your bicycle or even taking the public city bus, you are not allowed to do so for 1 year, because you didnt pay for something you may have had the right to access.
Seems only 15 out of 312+ members of the French Senate have managed to keep their heads out of their asses long enough to realize how much this law stinks.
Never mind that the government of a country should not be using its resources to protect private businesses from their own failing business model.
The internet has become an essential service for most people in today's world.
The law doesnt address how to resolve an issue of employees using the internet to download copyrighted material at work, if 4 employees do it at once, the entire business would lose internet for a year.
The law doesnt even specify that the downloading of copyrighted material must be illegal. If I go to cnn.com and download a podcast, I have downloaded copyrighted material from the internet and have not paid for it.
On the other hand, in many cases the validity of whether material is copyrighted is not apparent. If I download a torrent that contains copyrighted material that is not labeled as such, I have permission to do so from whoever uploads the material. If the source material is in fact copyrighted, I could lose my internet for downloading it from someone who downloaded from someone who downloaded it from the original host. I would have no way of knowing that the material was copyrighted. And thousands of people could lose internet access because of one person's actions.
This is a slippery slope that ends in transfer of information without a fee or a EULA impossible, which in the long run, turns the internet from the information superhighway into the worlds biggest electronic shopping mall.
Its not like we didnt have reasons to hate France before, but if this passes the lower house of the senate, I for one will be boycotting all things French (admittedly, that means I have to give up bottled water, but still, thats about 2/3 of France's economy, right?)
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The law doesnt even specify that the downloading of copyrighted material must be illegal.
Citation needed.
Here's what the article says:
Under the so-called three strikes or "graduated response" legislation - which still needs approval by the lower house before it becomes French law - illegal downloaders are first sent an email warning them of their infraction. They are subsequently sent a warning letter in the post.
If after this second warning they continue to illegally download copyrighted content, the internet service provider will cut off access to the internet for a year.
Who's got anything better to go by?
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It's the virtual equivalent of the old punishment of cutting off a hand for theft. If they're going to return to this way of thinking, perhaps for consistency's sake they should return to to that. And, of course, reinstate the use of that classic of French justice, the guillotine.
How would they know? (Score:4, Insightful)
The article is short on details. How will they know that the downloader didn't have permission to download the copyrighted work? There are movies, music, and video games that are copyrighted but freely available. Does French law require that copyrighted works be paid for rather than distributed at no charge?
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They don't really care if you have permission. What is in it for them to do their research?
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Unless they've thrown all ISP privacy laws over board, I guess it means every C&D letter (in the US you'd call it a DMCA notice, but it's not the US) will be counted towards the limit, three letters and you're offline for a year. The ISP probably won't do any fact-checking at all...
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> I gueI guess it means every C&D letter (in the US you'd call it a DMCA notice, but it's
> not the US)
No. I'd call it a C&D letter, because that is what it would be. It would have nothing to do with the DMCA.
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How will they know that the downloader didn't have permission to download the copyrighted work? There are movies, music, and video games that are copyrighted but freely available.
One would hope the law says "unlicensed" rather than "not paid for". One would fear that the law is made by lawyers (just because we don't like lawyers). A fortunate side effect is that they probably know to distinguish the two.
If not, then because due to the fact that
There are [...] video games that are copyrighted but freely available
We would have that apt-get is a tool for software piracy: nexuiz, openarena, wesnoth; that's three strikes. Be sure to add the music to your playlist (dpkg -L $pkg; unzip the pk3s).
The french are trying to outlaw Linux? They're probably st
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First, the French copyright law "droit d'auteur" ( author's rights ) are significantly different of US copyright law.
Second, the article isn't accurate. The HADOPI (Haute Autorité pour la diffusion des Å"uvres et la protection des droits sur Internet, " hight authority of protection of broadcasting right on internet" approximative translation ) only investigate cases after copyright holder request.
So it's pretty unlikely that the author or the copyright owner request intervention of the hado
They don't know / don't care (Score:3, Interesting)
All those objections have been raised. I know personally the people at the main advocacy group opposing this nonsense [laquadrature.net], and from what they tell me, they are in complete in denial. They are impervious to the technical arguments. The entertainment industry feeds them their talking points, and that's good enough for them.
But the technical aspect is just a part of the whole problem; constitutionnally, it's on grounds just as weak. And the European Parliament, backed by the Commission, has shot it down premptivel
Will they do the same to business & government (Score:2)
Seems only fair, eh? :-)
297 votes to 15 (Score:2)
So now you know who in your government was willing to sell out, and who wasn't ( or had a higher price then the industry was willing to pay ).
Heh (Score:4, Insightful)
Some people should release some 'copyrighted' material they created then lure some of the political figures to download it. Once a couple of people get banned from the net, that law will disappear quickly.
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Do you seriously believe that such people would ever be banned?
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If only Ted Kennedy's problems at the airport had been enough to get rid of the Patriot Act.
Better way... (Score:2)
I'd release my stuff as freeware with a EULA that said that politicians weren't allowed to use it, then go after only them. Nobody reads EULAs if they can help it.
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Seeing how far removed some of those figures are from reality, you'd probably have to teach them what a download is, let alone how to download something.
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Seeing how far removed some of those figures are from reality, you'd probably have to teach them what a download is, let alone how to download something.
Most of them have kids.
The worst part.. (Score:2, Insightful)
The worst part is that this doesn't really require any evidence. It's "three warnings", not "three convictions". There's no due process.
Also, cutting people off the Internet is a way disproportionate punishment. For me, this would mean:
- Not being able to participate in the work of my political party of choice (The Swedish Pirate Party, if you're wondering..)
- Heck, it will cut me off from lots of vital information that I need to practice my democratic rights.
- Not being able to pay my bills without going t
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Exactly. Try getting by on a somewhat modern western university without having access to the online materials (Stallman wrote about that [gnu.org].)
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You're not allowed to have service. It doesn't say its illegal for you to use a computer.
1) Get the service in someone else's name
2) I didn't read it, but can you switch ISPs?
3) go to an internet cafe
4) use the school library
5) piggy back on someone's wifi
6) use a coffee shop's wifi
7) move the fuck out of france
This is a non-story... for now (Score:5, Informative)
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That means that the law which has been approved by the senate is not yet in its final form, and might undergo deep revisions before it is enforced.
In theory. How often does it happen with a law that flies through 295-16? Everyone has clearly bought into this.
Constitutional Court (Score:3, Informative)
First of all, even if the second chamber does approve the law it also has to stand the test in the Court of Cassation (Cour de cassation) [wikipedia.org]. If the law is deemed unconstitutional there it will have to be changed.
P.S. Vi har ikke noe liknende i Norge, vi "tester" ikke om lovene er konstitusjonelle eller ikke på samme måte. Det er mer likt det amerikanske systemet hvor man også kan utfordre lover i Høyesterett (føderal).
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You made a confusion with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conseil_constitutionnel [wikipedia.org], which duty is to ensure that the principles and rules of the constitution are upheld
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It's not a non-story. If in the US the house had approved a bill to do something ridiculous, say only teach creationism in schools, even if it were definitely going to die in the senate, that's still a scary situation. Here, the story is important because one of the two houses passed such a dumb law. That's only one legislative body away from internet fascism.
Yes but (Score:3, Insightful)
Nazi-douchebag Sarkozy had his government use "emergency" procedure to pass it, so it will only be discussed once in each chamber.
Of course, just the mere fact that they claimed it to be an emergency is yet another proof that those assholes are just doing Vivendi's bidding.
The new ISP dilemmna... (Score:3, Interesting)
If I obey the law and send a letter the customer won't need my bandwidth any more...
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Your post just made me think of a positive use for this insane 'allegation=conviction' law:
You're in a 12 month lock-in contract with your ISP and a cheaper, better alternative has just come to market. You send 3 allegations of copyright infringement, accusing yourself. Voilla! New ISP. :)
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Your post just made me think of a positive use for this insane 'allegation=conviction' law:
You're in a 12 month lock-in contract with your ISP and a cheaper, better alternative has just come to market. You send 3 allegations of copyright infringement, accusing yourself. Voilla! New ISP. :)
...after a year of no internet at all. Not quite sure what you've gained there.
The Vivendi law (Score:5, Interesting)
This law was mainly pushed by Vivendi but there are powerful backers from all across the spectrum:
* Telecoms firms that want a mandate to filter all Internet traffic so that they can block all P2P, and then VoIP, and then video streaming and then anything which competes with their monopoly products.
* Large ISPs, because these are now all owned by the telecoms firms.
* Vendors like Cisco because they want to sell loads and loads of expensive filtering equipment.
* The music industry, because it still thinks it's going to sue its way back onto the right side of history. Stupid kloten, when will they learn?
* The movie industry, because they've drunk the music industry koolaid.
* The TV industry, because they want to sell more DVDs and because their distributors in the digital age are, of course, the ISPs.
* And finally, certain software firms, because the only way to implement this law, finally, is to use a fully locked down operating system that only runs authorized software, so no Linux.
The French tried so hard to get this same law pushed through the European Parliament, but that seems to be saner.
There are similar legislative pushes all around Europe, at the national level, and for the same reasons.
The Internet is, really, under attack from concerted and powerful forces that hate what those free packets represent.
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It happens that Mrs Sarkozy, through he
Re:The Vivendi law [slashcode sucks] (Score:2)
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Extra penalties (Score:5, Funny)
I heard there will be extra penalties if the downloads weren't in French...
Danish politician wants to legalise filesharing (Score:4, Interesting)
Let's compare this with a danish politician (I'm from Denmark).
http://www.computerworld.dk/art/42432?a=newsletter&i=1393 [computerworld.dk] says (my translation from danish)
"Enhedslistens"* candidate for the parliament, Johanne Schmidt-Nielsen, thinks tha file sharing should be legal, and digital rights management, DRM, illegal
"I think it's an illusion to believe that it's possible to stop copying. I amounts to sticking one's head in the sand. The politicians have to realize the necessity of forming a committee that will address the question of how artists can be compensated for their work."
*"Enhedslisten" is the leftmost party in danish politics, left of The Socialist People's Party. I'd guess they compare with the greens; the environment is also one of their big issues, they're all for taking from the rich and giving to the poor.
I remember them branding themselves as the Robin Hood party one time, but I don't recall them using that term again. If they get into parliament, they often hold around four seats out of 179, which is the smallest possible amount (less than 2% of the votes and you don't get in).
Be aware that this statement was during election season.
I hope this gives you nutrition for cognition :)
Well then its irelevant (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Well then its irelevant (Score:4, Interesting)
To make matters more complex, since the reforms promised by the European Constitution (which failed to be approved at a referendum in france and netherlands in 2005, and a revised version was rejected by ireland in 2008), the european parliament still has very limited powers: it shares its decisional power with the european council, which is made of the representants of the executive governments of the member countries. As far as I know, the european council has not yet taken a stance on this topic.
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Even if HADOPI (national law) passes, which means it passes the Assemblée Nationale then the Commission Paritaire Mixte, it will have to be reviewed for lawfulness by the Conseil d'État if about anyone smells rotten fish and asks for that review. Then Décrets d'Application (technical ordinances) will have to be signed to mandate its implementation.
Finally, the thing will start to be implemented. Should EU la
Cry for "la belle france" (Score:2)
For make no mistake -- corporations are merely updated feudal lords. For they have gathered power and exercise it for profit. And now they wish to enforce it by ritual excommunication.
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No more redundant software licenses (Score:2)
I wonder ... (Score:2)
What's French for 'lickspittle'? (Score:2)
The French seem to be following the US example, and in this case it doesn't seem like a good idea...
Malware will make this moot (Score:2)
Whether it be a rules designed to stop folks from stealing media, violating their monthly transfer cap, or even using a competitor's VoIP package, they are all susceptible to malware attacks. Given an interesting enough malware that doesn't seek to steal your data, but rather use you as a conduit, we all finally have plausible deniability.
Every time they get into this, there is an assumption that I am in complete control of my hardware and software. History has clearly shown that even with tightly-con
Cryptography (Score:2)
France also had one of the worst anti-cryptography laws worldwide... until they gradually replaced them with saner laws in 1996 and 2004.
So is that a reason for the French to be optimistic? No. Relaxing the anti-crypto was done for the sake of equalizing laws with other countries, while tightening the screw on file sharers is just one way to kowtow before the almighty WIPO and their representatives like IFPI, RIAA et al. So things are probably going to worsen rather than improve. France have been dragging h
Look at the bright side (Score:2)
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So.. You programmed the thing, right?
Just write your own sheet music that corresponds to what you did. For bonus points, get a graphic artist to design you a "robot clef" for the machine parts.
Assuming, of course, that what you did corresponds well enough to the standard scales.
Welcome to /., btw.
(also, you might wanna get a free account, even if you just post anonymously. Lock in your user-number today, they're only going to go up!)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe it will work differently. You will get cut off, but you still have to pay. Then, there is no problem for ISPs, in fact, more bandwidth can be overselled to others.
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That would make sense if the service they're delivering is the refusal to give you access, I suppose.
That seems like an excellent business proposal.
I was actually joking.
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Something is wrong with you. The law as it's worded IS actually that vague. If it passes, it won't be enforced like that, but technically it could be. His question is not stupid, you are.
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Well, it's kind of iffy. They're technically against it, but basically for it because they want to nationalize every industry and THEN control it "for the greater good".
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If you click the link to RTFA (I do that, I'm odd) you'll see that they mention that it needs to be illegally downloaded. The copyright here allows for viewing and, most likely, caching would be considered fair use as well.