France to Ban Illegal Downloaders From the Internet
France, a country perhaps best known for its unfailing support of the arts, has recently put itself at the forefront of combating digital piracy. "There is no reason that the Internet should be a lawless zone," President Nicolas Sarkozy told his cabinet as it sanctioned his new plan, by which anyone who engages in the illegal downloading of music, TV, or films will actually be barred from broadband access.
The plan will begin next January, and will be based on a "three strikes" policy; essentially, ISPs will be required to cut off access for up to a year for third-time offenders caught sharing illicit content. The law will all be enforced by a new nearly $30 million-a-year state agency, to be called Hadopi (high authority for copyright protection and dissemination of works on the Internet, translated into your filthy American English).
Sarkozy has become very interested in artists' rights every since getting hitched to model and folk singer Carla Bruni. Opposition, however, has come frmo the state data protection agency, consumer and civil liberties groups, and the European Parliament. Big Web companies including Google refused to sign up to the 40-member industry accord last November.
Mocking the scheme, French newspaper Libération warned families that they could be stripped of their Internet access and broadband telephone and television if a neighbor's teenager uses their wireless router to load his iPod with music (not a bad idea if said teen has recently been "banned" from the Internet for downloading music illegally). And what's to stop the same teen from just going down to the local Internet cafe and downloading content illegally while there? While we're all about figuring out this whole "new media distribution" dilemma, we're going to have to agree with Libération: This doesn't seem like a very effective way forward. [Source: Times Online]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
G. said 2:21PM on 6-20-2008
You would have expected better sense from France. They are taking the same stupid way out that America does. Rather than going after the content PROVIDER, who is the one actually breaking the law, they want to punish everyone, even if they didn't know if they were breaking any law. The whole world is losing its collective grip on common sense.
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Vincent Fitzgerald said 6:29AM on 6-23-2008
Sarkozy needs a French Yahoo ....
And to Get Down Off of Napolion's HORSE !
Vince
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KenH said 6:52PM on 6-23-2008
This poses another case of arrogance gone wild. As one in the record industry, and a musician and writer, if the labels and industry would have not been so arrogant abut this in the beginning, there would be no problems. They were not, laughing off the idea that anyone would actually go to the internet for music, this was as late as 2003. They had the opportunity with Napster, Grokster (anyone remember?) Limewire and all the others, of course big business would not play with innovation and change. Now governments are stepping in, more laws, more court fees and lawyer fees, more fines for the government, more jail space = more money for big business, and the biggest business of all The Governments !!! ALL GOVERNMENTS, citizens are not citizens, we are targeted demographics and expendable income. File sharing of music actually is a great promotional tool, that is not me, but proven facts, it creates what is known as the "buzz".
David said 6:27AM on 6-23-2008
The way I see "downloaders" is... you are walking in the park and you find a dollar on the ground. Do you keep it? Do you leave it there? RIAA, movie industry, and other such businesses want to sue because you keep what you find.
And BTW, with all the greed and crime, etc. going on in the world, THIS is where France wants to draw the line?!?!?!? How about protecting the public FROM big business!!!!
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fred snuffbucket said 8:46AM on 6-23-2008
Ifn france is fer it, then I is again' it. Them french fries don't know jack bout nutin. All them french pansies is good fer is surrendering to the Germans. They dun that real well.Twice.
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Harris said 9:02AM on 6-23-2008
Well "Fred snuffbucket" It's a shame you can't even speak of write English properly, so that means you really are in NO position to criticize.
If and when you become literate, maybe some body will listen to you and not laugh at you instead. I doubt that you will even read this reply.
Kyle Lall said 3:37AM on 6-24-2008
What short memories we Americans have! It was the French who aided us in our Revolutionary War against the mighty forces of his Majesty George III, gifted us the Statue of Liberty on our 100th birthday, and have been our loyal OTAN (that's French for NATO!) allies since its inception. Moreover, we have only to open our US passports to confirm that until recently, French was the language of world diplomacy - as by convention, each world country must print its passports in French as well as the local language. As for the French being total quisling milquetoast pansies, "good only for surrendering to the Germans", how was it that until just 60 years ago half the known world was colonised by our Francophone brethren - including, in our neighbourhood; Haiti, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, St Pierre et Miquelon, Montserrat, and St Martin. Indeed, St Pierre et Miquelon, two small islands located just 75 km away from Halifax, NS, Canada; are actually an integral part of France itself to this day - and actually use the Euro as their currency! Lastly, when our President (ex officio only, as he is illegitimate) G W Bush requested other nations' support in the Iraq war the UN had declared "unjust, immoral, and illegal" as it was 100% ultra vires of international law as well as our own, France had the moral integrity to refuse his pathetic and tiresome request - and today the French are seen by the vast majority of us as having done exactly right! Vive la belle Republique Française! Je vous salue bien!
Annette said 8:59AM on 6-23-2008
Everyone knows his thinking behind this---his too young, "artist" wife. Mr. President of France, make a sensible law, howboutit?
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MrsPriss said 8:44AM on 6-23-2008
I am so glad i'm not French. They think their crap doesn't stink.
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Fred Gifford said 8:49AM on 6-23-2008
So what's to stop the offender from using an alias,or someone elses computor?
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TonyV2 said 9:29AM on 6-23-2008
Does anyone ever proofread this banter??
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marc said 10:09AM on 6-23-2008
france can eat one big one.they will never stop it the internet is all around us and it isn't that hard to bipass outher internet providers and get online. any person with router skills and fiberoptics can hook up to a signal. whatwill this stop but cause more people breaking the laws??????????
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marc said 10:14AM on 6-23-2008
isn't possession 9/10 ofthe law???????????
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bob said 8:27PM on 6-23-2008
FRENCH? RUDE,FILTHY& STINKS
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georc said 10:48AM on 6-23-2008
fred snuffbucket's got them french pansies figured right! They're all gimme, gimme, gimme, till it's time to support the gimme'er, then it's, "no speakum english". They can,"a re va der chee", each other for all I care!
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liam said 10:51AM on 6-23-2008
What a joker, there's no chance that this plan will work, he's got more chance of crapping on the moon!! I've lived in France and I'll tell ya, this is just the kind of hair-brained, Mickey Mouse 2bit operation plan that they'd come up with! Don't get me wrong, France is a lovely place, it's just a shame about all the French people that live there!!
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Dave said 11:16AM on 6-23-2008
Such French BS. Personally, I think the internet should mostly be FREE. Just like most TV and radio is. Then if ya want download something that belongs to someone else....ya have to buy it. Unless it is freeware.
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Steve deLong said 6:09PM on 6-23-2008
If you steal something from someone else you are a theif! This is great thinking on Sarkouzy, it seems that the children who oppose this law are the socialists afraid to join the capitalist market, how sad. In order to eat you must work, it is the law of nature.
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Dave said 11:20AM on 6-23-2008
Such French BS. Personally, I think the internet should mostly be
FREE. Just like most TV and radio is. Then if ya want download
something that belongs to someone else....ya have to buy it. Unless
it is freeware.
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john said 11:27AM on 6-23-2008
G.: You expect better sense from France? Wow, I have some beachfront property for sale in Arizona, if you are interested. Seriously, this is just socialism at work. "We think you should act this way, and we will spend significant amounts of your money to make sure you do You are too stupid to know what is right or good for you, and since we are the elite thinkers, we will tell you, then make you." By the way, we are headed that way more and more in the US. We have judges overriding the clear stated will of the people with no constitutional basis, while allowing laws and even the Constitution itself to be ignored when it clearly states what is legal. They even interpret rights into nonexistence. We will probably have this kind of crap in the next presidency.
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