Three Strikes Rule May Sneak Into EU Law, Despite Earlier Rejection

from the never-let-your-guard-down dept

Fri, Nov 21st 2008 9:44am — Mike Masnick

We've talked in the past about how the entertainment industry never gives up trying to push through its legislative agenda -- even after it is dealt setbacks. You may recall that the EU Parliament rejected a proposal to institute a "three strikes" law favored by the entertainment industry, that would kick people off the internet if they're accused (not found guilty, just accused) of unauthorized file sharing three times. The EU Parliament correctly noted that such a law would interfere with individuals privacy and civil rights. However, some academics have noted that another set of laws focusing on telco reform may backdoor in nearly identical three strikes language, requiring telcos to adopt such policies. The fear, obviously, is that this issue, buried in a big telco bill may not get very much attention and may be put into law without much debate, despite the EU Parliament's earlier rejection of such an idea.

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Filed Under: eu, europe, telco regulations, three strikes

9 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 21 Nov 2008 @ 11:00am

Legislation
Every country has the same stupid legislative system. Bills get a lot of items thrown in and its all or nothing. It's damn stupid. In the US the Senate and Represenatives are supposed to be able to debate over it all and revise and so on. Stuff like this happens far too often.

Earmarking and so on does need to stop. They need to be required to, flat out, vote on things on a per item basis. You don't make a Bill of Cyberlaw, you pass one item (such as unathorized access to a remote system is "hacking" and illegal) as a part of the "Cyberlaw Section".

None of this BS where stuff can "sneak in" to other bills. It will take longer, but face it. People are legislating TOO mcuh.
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JB, 21 Nov 2008 @ 11:05am

Legislative Process
This and the Federal Bailout are just a couple of examples why I hate the Legislative Process. The system is broke when legislators can tack on unrelated restrictions and provisions, still pass it all as one bill, and are never required to later review those laws. In the above bill, a previously rejected provision has been tied in and could simply be overlooked. These politicians are being paid large sums of money to find ways to abuse the system just so they can stay in office.

These are simply my opinions and I just felt like ranting.
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mike allen, 21 Nov 2008 @ 11:22am

one thing
I have the right to privacy if i don't get it, European court of human rights.
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Disenfranchised, 21 Nov 2008 @ 11:37am

LTS
I propose a new law, call it the Legislative Three Stikes rule.

In this rule, those that proposes legislation which is voted down three times, get kicked out of office.
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JB, 21 Nov 2008 @ 12:10pm

Re: LTS
I prefer the Legislative Two Strike rule. It lacks the extreme effectiveness of the Legislative One Strike rule, but capitalizes on its weakness, namely the lack of innovative legislation. Adding a third strike to the rule only allows the legislator to make the same mistake again while doubling the odds of a poorly formed bill arriving at the President's desk to be signed into Law.
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Mark Regan, 21 Nov 2008 @ 1:12pm

That's the American system already
The police can arrest you for three or more crimes (you're only ACCUSED, NOT CONVICTED.)

But the DA and your attorney will CONVINCE you that the system doesn't care if you are guilty or innocent. The American system is set up that you are forced to plead guilty to at least one of the charges in exchange for dismissal of the others, even if you are innocent, because if you go to court on all three charges even if you are not guilty, the fact is that rarely does an American jury ever acquit a defendant who is, in fact, innocent. If the police arrested him, he MUST be guilty.

This is the same situation discussed above. If the RIAA has accused a person of illegal downloads, they MUST have done so. They never accept that sometimes teenagers use grandma's computer, or their boss's computer, or your computer or mine. Proof? All that is necessary is the ISP number appearing on some log, or proof of who the computer software is registered to.

Allegations are all that the Bush administration needs to detain and torture alleged terrorists for seven years, and continue doing so even after a federal judge orders their release. Why should the RIAA be held to any stricter standards than George Bush, who set the precedence that allegations are just as good as convictions?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Nov 2008 @ 3:14pm

Re: That's the American system already
"f the RIAA has accused a person of illegal downloads, they MUST have done so."

I like it when they accuse an HP laser printer of illegal downloads. Those pirate printers are the worst !
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Stefano Quintarelli, 21 Nov 2008 @ 3:51pm

it will not. the decision is against france' ruling
http://www.euractiv.com/en/infosociety/eu-ministers-reject-ban-free-downloading/article-177379

EU culture ministers yesterday (20 November) rejected French proposals to curb online piracy through compulsory measures against free downloading, instead agreeing to promote legal offers of music or films on the Internet.
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CN, 21 Nov 2008 @ 9:04pm

Sneaking stuff in is dishonest and should be illegal...
Tacking stuff on at the last minute just before everyone goes on holiday, or burying it or whatever... it's obvious that they are abusing the system, and should be put in jail.
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