Beyond Kicking People Offline, France Raises Fines For Copyright Infringement To $440,000

from the proportionate? dept

Wed, Sep 23rd 2009 3:23pm — Mike Masnick

With France continuing to push for a version of three strikes legislation, the latest bill approved also happens to increase potential fines for infringement up to 300,000 euros, or approximately $440,000. Nice to see governments making sure that the punishment fits the crime, huh?

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Filed Under: copyright, fines, france, infringement, three strikes

22 Comments

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aguywhoneedstenbucks (profile), 23 Sep 2009 @ 2:12pm

I say we also chop off their main typing finger.
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Anonymous Poster, 23 Sep 2009 @ 3:40pm

Going by the Jammie Math (where each individual copyright violation is a separate fine), she'd have to pay 10,666,656 USD over in France. (And Lily Allen would have to pay 8,444,436 USD.)
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Anonymous Poster, 23 Sep 2009 @ 3:50pm

Re:
Excuse me, I got a few numbers misplaced somewhere in my calculations.

Jammie would have to pay 10,560,000 USD.
Lily would have to pay 8,360,000 USD.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 3:55pm

Screw it. Just put a bullet in their brains. End of story and end of sharing. Seriously.

Here's the way you stop people from sharing anything on the internet. Either shut down the entire internet and close up shop, or kill every freakin' person if so much as one dares to share music.

End of sharing, end of piracy, and end of freedom of whatever. Kneel everyone down, put a bullet in the backs of their heads, charge the cost of the bullet to immediate family, and the Entertainment Industry will finally rest easy knowing that there isn't anyone left to file share.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 3:56pm

Man wants to sue for a joke?
You all need to start listening to the Phil Hendrie Show. Not only is he the best talk show host, but recently, he had this happen to him.

http://d01.megashares.com/dl/a34bb7d/PhilHendrie_SteveBozell.mp3
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marja, 23 Sep 2009 @ 4:18pm

Here's betting that none of the money collected will ever reach the people whose works were actually infringed on!
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 4:32pm

Raise it to 50 Billion..
Everyone just needs to stop paying for anything relating to muzak or video.. Easy. The whole country boycotts them bastards and they will be forced to change their ways. Just like me.. I don't really download too much these days (don't want the RIAA Nazi's kicking my door) unless I'm tunneled somewhere else but I have not been to the movies in at least 8 years now and I don't think I've ever actually bought a CD. I will say, I did buy one DVD in my days.. Scarface (even if I think it was a chinese bootleg) but that's it. File sharing has been around since the first email was sent and it will be around for a long time to come, there is nothing anyone can do about it.. Fines, prison, kick me off the internet.. We will still "steal" all the stuff we want.. Where there is a will there will be a way and if not, we'll code a way..
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 23 Sep 2009 @ 5:05pm

France needs a uniquely french solution
Roll everyone in the country back to Minitel. Problem solved.
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>>>, 23 Sep 2009 @ 5:35pm

Re:
you're very weird
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 6:04pm

I presume you have read a copy of the legislation.
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Lucretious, 23 Sep 2009 @ 6:13pm

It's France for God's sakes, did you expect anything less than complete idiocy?
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Hephaestus (profile), 23 Sep 2009 @ 7:01pm

This is a good thing ....
This is a good thing .... because the more draconian the rules become the more people will run from the music industry. This includes artists, fans, and independant labels. The music industry is a supported bubble at this point, and bubbles burst ...
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Kyros (profile), 23 Sep 2009 @ 7:15pm

Obviously...
Obviously we should simply kick both France AND the Media Execs off the internet, permanently. Possibly remove their eyes and fingers to prevent them from sneaking on?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 7:59pm

Nice to see that after the Allies kicked the Nazis out of France that they've decided to become them.
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Thomas (profile), 23 Sep 2009 @ 8:23pm

And if they could...
They'd be sent to the guillotine.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 8:29pm

Re: This is a good thing ....
Eggzactly. Now if we could just stage a few high brow politico stunts.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 10:32pm

The French government is the best friend of alternatives.
The french government is fuelling one silent revolution, most of the best alternatives to commercial music are coming from France, ironically the place where such absurd laws are being passed. The way that the current players choose to alienate their costumers is making a cultural shift not only possible but a reality.

Hope they continue to do so, the more angry people get, the more the alternatives grow in popularity.

Go Jamendo.
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Morisato (profile), 23 Sep 2009 @ 10:42pm

Hmmm
News these days are getting dull. I see way too many of these infringe this and rights that. It's a never ending battle. One of which the hungry corporations will never win. If they wanted so much to stop piracy, stop making the product itself. Anyone should know if they make something that can be pirated, they should accept that fact. Get over it I say and move on cause they'll never win no matter what law they pass. They're not the only one wanting to make money off the poor. What they should be going after are the people profitting and ripping other piraters off of the free content. They're the ones making the money off your supposedly infringed item or whatever. Instead we just see the same cases of innocent semi hard working people getting picked on just because they're too poor or too lazy to buy the product while the others profitting from infringed content are well off riding there long dream ferrari's. Good one corporates, way to make the world into the hell whole it already is in. Lets just hope 2012 will save humanities issues of all this hate and rage.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2009 @ 11:13pm

Re:
You forgot "shoot the musicians", No more music, no more sharing!
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cKarlGo, 24 Sep 2009 @ 4:29am

Rolling over like the little girls they are
These people are French. Do you really expect them to do anything other than roll over and show their bellies to the music industry?
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iNtrigued (profile), 24 Sep 2009 @ 2:05pm

Re: @Lucretious
I would just like to point out that most French people are smart about this kind of thing, unfortunately their gov't(just like our idiotic Congress) is filled with idiots. But hell, what gov't isn't fncked up?
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Moner, 14 Feb 2010 @ 9:01am

With France continuing to push for a version of three strikes legislation, the latest bill approved.
Enzyte
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