French Elections Could Affect HADOPI, ACTA 153
bs0d3 writes "From having a position in the development and support of ACTA, to implementation of HADOPI, to imposing an internet tax to pay for music; France has been at the forefront of anti-piracy legislation. This week, it has been announced that current President and anti-piracy advocate Nicolas Sarkozy is unlikely to win the next election. His leading opponent is a man named Francois Hollande. Hollande has in the past opposed both ACTA and HADOPI (France's 3 strikes law). Hollande believes that ACTA, 'originally intended to combat counterfeiting trade[,] was gradually diverted from its objective, in the utmost discretion and without any democratic process.' At the same time, Hollande is also strongly against piracy. 'Piracy has been costly,' Hollande said, 'but I do not think that law enforcement alone is the answer to the problem.' Will internet issues be of concern to the voters in France? It certainly is to the rest of us internet users."
Re:Police not enough? (Score:4, Insightful)
Confusing France and Nazi Germany is just fucking dumb.
Re:Right to be left.. (Score:4, Insightful)
> In other words, you disagree with the majority of your voters?
The majority of voters did not vote for Wilders, so what's your point again?
Something I don't understand here... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Too early to tell (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering Sarkozy got only 1% less of the vote than Hollande in the first round, it's far too early to call it. All the folks that voted for other candidates will pick 1 of the 2 in the next round, and considering the massive amount of votes that went to Le Pen...we might very well be seeing more of Sarkozy.
true. besides, even if hollande got to power he would pretty soon change his mind on the subject, like any and every other european leader has done. it would just take a few phone calls, if at all necessary. the only difference would be that while sarko just barks, hollande would dish out some justifying bland rethoric. these matters just float high above politics.
that not to mention that nowadays any socialist party in europe could be as socialistic as, say, us democrats. with some exceptions in scandinavia, maybe. if real political change in europe does not come from a social revolution, don't expect it before the next generation of politicians pitches in. if at all.
Re:Something I don't understand here... (Score:2, Insightful)
Won't matter who is elected. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Go Sarko (Score:4, Insightful)
so we should ask the greeks about their "insanely generous social programs"? funny guy.
Yes, you should. They drove the country to the very brink of bankruptcy.
greece has never had any "social programs" worth to mention whatsoever. they just had massive state employment. but that they have had for decades without "driving to the very brink of bankruptcy". they are almost broke now, thanks to political corruption and financial speculation and incidentally germany and france had plenty to do with it, not to forget goldman sachs.
Re:Right to be left.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Funny, cause of all the muslims i know, none of them in this country (Australia) seem to have an issue with me eating non halal food, or not covering up everywhere, or well anything. I'm sure they exist, just like there exists white australians who go around beating up people of different cultures. i just tend to not associate with people like these.
Perhaps if you weren't so afraid of speaking to people of a different culture, you would have a different view.
assimilation is a slow process. people in one country who all come from another country/share a religion will tend to band together simply because they share something in common. as time passes (generally a couple of generations) there is more mingling between cultures.
i have never heard of these culture wars you speak of and i do not believe in their existence.
Re:French internal politics? (Score:5, Insightful)
Huh? How'd this make the front page? French internal politics?
Well I'm not French either, but it does make a pleasant change from the US political stories that seem to inevitably descend into bleating about libertarians after about a dozen comments.
Re:not convicted (Score:4, Insightful)
There is nothing wrong with "flipflopping". One of the most successful chancellors of Germany is often quoted with "What do I care about my chitchat from yesterday?" [wikiquote.org].
If new information changes the situation, if one gets convinced that the own stance was misguided, why not make up your mind and change your opinion? People unable to react if circumstances change and old concepts cede to work should not be the masters of our fate.
Re:Go Sarko (Score:4, Insightful)
Greece's social programs are pretty pitiful. Scandinavia, now there is somewhere with generous social programs. Greece doesn't even have free universal healthcare, and its unemployment insurance is a joke compare to the norms in Scandinavia.
Re:Go Sarko (Score:2, Insightful)
And they also work more hours per year than people in the USA, the UK, France or Germany. But who cares about economical facts as long as one can go with sterotypes and urge us to look at Greece to justify anti-social, anti-taxes and anti-regulation programs?
Baroness Warsi in the UK (Score:4, Insightful)
The amount of hatred she gets directed against her is impressive, But almost all of it is from white men, including members of her own political party. For every "backward" Muslim in the UK, I suspect we can produce at least 10 equally backward white Brits.
You would think that demonising the Muslims would take the pressure off the Jews, the previous candidates of people like the GP for planned world domination. But in their minds it's simple - white people of nominally Christian background should naturally rule the world, so anybody else is a threat. At least, unlike the USA, in this country you can be openly gay or an atheist and still get elected to political office.
Re:Right to be left.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Politics is a game to him.
I am glad our kabinet crashed. There is no conceivable way the next kabinet will be as unstable and insane as this one (Wilders wasn't really in the kabinet and managed to change that position into a position of power where he could controll a lot, insane as that is)