European Council Rejects EU Parliament's Amendment Against Three Strikes Rule

from the it's-good-to-be-the-king dept

Tue, Dec 2nd 2008 5:21pm — Mike Masnick

Earlier this year, we noted that the European Parliament overwhelmingly rejected the idea of various countries implementing any kind of policy that would kick file sharers off the internet -- often referred to as "three strikes" legislation. However, TorrentFreak is now reporting that, despite 88% of Parliament voting in favor of rejecting any such law for being a violation of basic human rights, the European Council (made up of the heads of state of various EU governments, has rejected the amendment drafted by the Parliament. Why? Well, TorrentFreak notes that French President Sarkozy just so happens to be President of the European Council, and as we recently noted, France just recently moved forward in approving a three strikes law, which was originally championed by Sarkozy. So, rather than listen to the vast majority of the EU Parliament, Sarkozy has apparently convinced the Council to let him push through this particular law, despite the widespread concerns about its draconian nature.

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Filed Under: eu, three strikes

15 Comments

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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 2 Dec 2008 @ 5:53pm

So sad that the EU is well in the pocket of the RIAA and MPAA.
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Uninformed Pedestrian, 2 Dec 2008 @ 6:18pm

I dont understand all this Euro stuff
What is the difference between the European Council and the EU Parliament ? I thought that the EC had no formal powers.
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Creed, 2 Dec 2008 @ 9:22pm

Soon they'll see
All of france will be offline within 2 months of this law being made. I guarentee it.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2008 @ 9:23pm

Re: Soon they'll see
NOT that I'm going to do any hacking or socioengineering to make that happen. I just an so confident I'm willing to back it up with real money. Every IP address in France will be cut off, or will have been cut off and reconnected at least once by the time two months have passes after the ISP's are forced to follow the guidelines
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Dec 2008 @ 11:12pm

Corporations rule the world, not governments...
And it is only going to get worse.
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bikey (profile), 2 Dec 2008 @ 11:12pm

Someone should listen to Ireland
Does anyone really wonder why 1)Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty and 2) no other country has the guts to allow its citizens a referendum? France deserves what it gets - they voted for him. As for the rest? You decide (please).
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bikey (profile), 2 Dec 2008 @ 11:17pm

Re: I dont understand all this Euro stuff
If you are American, it makes sense that you don't understand. If you are European, that sums up the problem right there.
1) the EC has mountains of power - EC makes law and that law trumps national law where there's a conflict.
2) The Council here is made up of all the cabinet ministers from the various countries. It is they who vote for legislation initiated (always) by the Commission.
3) The Parliament is made up of elected Parliamentarians from the member states and though it does not function like a national parliament, it has some say in the legislation that passes through it on the way from the Commission to the Council (an over simplification, but it will do in a pinch).
Hope this helps.
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SteveD, 3 Dec 2008 @ 1:14am

Hurray for democracy. :/
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Alex (profile), 3 Dec 2008 @ 1:36am

Point of info
The European Council has nothing to do with the Council of Europe (which is not an EU body). It's possible that "Uninformed Pedestrian" was thinking of the latter organization.
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Jan, 3 Dec 2008 @ 4:27am

check your facts please
This is not the end. EP and EC have to agree - that is the rules. EP voted against French 'three strikes' law, after that EC could accept that which would mean that this becames the law, but they did not accept it which only means that the process goes on - now it is EP's turn again (so called 'second reading' in EP).
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Killer_tofu (profile), 3 Dec 2008 @ 6:07am

Re: check your facts please
Very glad to hear that.
I work for a french company, and there are plenty of french people here.
Oddly enough, none of them like Sarkozy. Not a single one.
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Fuchsia, 3 Dec 2008 @ 7:05am

Re: Someone should listen to Ireland
Um, Lisbon says absolutely nothing on Sarkozy's "riposte graduée". If what you're getting at however is the EU's democratic deficit, I can only note that the Lisbon Treaty would actually help *increase* the involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process. It would also increase the circumstances under which the Council can take decisions with a qualified majority (mostly now Council decisions have to be unanimous, which - as will most of the art. 251 codecision process - can make for very strange law).

If the Irish intended to make the EU's more democratic through their "no" vote, they failed miserably. The trouble, however, with referendums on Lisbon (like those on the Constitution before it) is that citizens are likely to be voting on anything *but* the specific provisions at hand...
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Eric, 3 Dec 2008 @ 9:36am

This kind of reporting makes you look stupid
As Jan already stated this is was just the first reading. Now it goes back to the European Parliament for a second reading, if they reject it with an absolute majority then the proposal is dead.

I'm used to TorrentFreak sucking, don't join them. If you don't know anything about European legislative procedures, don't report on it.
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Alex (profile), 3 Dec 2008 @ 2:56pm

Not necessarily the end
If the European Parliament, at the forthcoming second reading votes, for amendments that the Council and Commission won't accept, then there's another round of negotiations. A final package is then put to the European Parliament, which can only vote Yes or No. If it votes No, THEN the entire bill is dead.

To put this into context, the "bill" in question is a set of directives, called the "telecoms package", aimed at regulating the EU-wide telecommunications market. The anti-3-strikes amendment (which Parliament voted for, and the Council has rejected) is only a tiny part of it.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2009 @ 6:50am

bang goes the internet as we know it
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