French Government's Plan To Help Book Publishers Adapt: Have Them Embrace Three Strikes Plan

from the not-exactly-adapting dept

Mon, Dec 7th 2009 7:03pm — Mike Masnick

PrometheeFeu writes "The French Minister of Culture Christine Albanel has just been assigned a mission to prepare the French publishing industry for the digital economy. The phrasing of the mission-letter makes it clear that while developing legal offerings and digitizing books is part of the plan, the focus is on getting the cooperation of publishers to enforce the 3-strike law (Google translation from the original). The language actually talks about inciting publishers to do so which leads me to wonder why the government should incite people to exercise their rights if they don't want to do so...

The letter makes it clear that IP enforcement is seen as the only way to distribute value to authors and distributors (consumers are not mentioned). Here is a choice quote:
"The government cannot accept to see another cultural industry threatened by the pillaging."
The letter also mentions the "damages observed for the music and film industries through the growth of illegal downloads." Obviously, no sources are given for that information. Most amusingly, the letter states that Christine Albanel (who kindly told us that OpenOffice comes with a firewall which would somehow block illegal downloads) should use in this mission her experience in working with the music and film industry. I like many French authors and I sincerely hope that they ignore whatever she says and instead try something which might actually work, but I'm not holding my breath..."

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Filed Under: france, publishers, three strikes

14 Comments

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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 7 Dec 2009 @ 7:20pm

Hah!
(Google translation from the original)

'nuff said.
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2009 @ 7:25pm
  
  Re: Hah!
  I agree, computer translations are only useful as a dictionary and even then they're not always accurate.
  
  I want to know if Mike had someone who speaks French translate it. Anyone here speak French? I can say Wee Wee but I learned that from a Jack in the box commercial.
  
  Retard FCC disclosure, no I am not getting paid by Jack in the Box to promote then and neither am I promoting or demoting them.
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  - Mike Masnick (profile), 7 Dec 2009 @ 11:05pm
    
    Re: Re: Hah!
    I want to know if Mike had someone who speaks French translate it. Anyone here speak French? I can say Wee Wee but I learned that from a Jack in the box commercial.
    
    The English post was written by the guy who wrote the blog post in French. So, yes, the description in the post is accurate, in that they were written by the same person.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2009 @ 2:09am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hah!
      Thanks.
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2009 @ 7:22pm

and since when was culture about industry?
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2009 @ 7:55pm
  
  Re:
  Ever since industry was born. Sure, culture existed before the birth of industry and will exist after industry dies but that's industry for you.
  
  It's very industrious.
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 7 Dec 2009 @ 9:12pm

"The government cannot accept to see another cultural industry threatened by the pillaging."

Vikings pillage. Pirates plunder.
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- Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2009 @ 9:20pm
  
  Re:
  But raporists do both.
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PrometheeFeu (profile), 7 Dec 2009 @ 9:26pm

Sorry about the imperfect translation... I realized after writing it that my blog post did not translate very well using Google's engine (I suggested alternative translations, but obviously, Google can't take into account my suggestions immediately) and I am too busy to offer a complete translation. But what I wrote to Mike sums up the whole thing quite well in my opinion: (FCC disclaimer: I have a personal and financial relationship with the person who wrote to Mike. That relationship can mathematically be defined as identity.) The government has decided to focus on distributing value instead of creating it and that distributing value is somehow best done by cutting people's Internet connection and this schoolyard approach to intellectual products. (you can't have it because it's mine!)
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2009 @ 10:48pm

Albanel is no longer Minister of culture. She was replaced with Frédéric Mitterrand months ago, so this piece may date a little.
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vyvyan, 8 Dec 2009 @ 1:24am

OpenOffice comes with a firewall which would somehow block illegal downloads

Which OpenOffice is she talking about?
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- zub, 8 Dec 2009 @ 4:07am
  
  Re:
  If there ever was such a version, it would have to be renamed "DRM Office". :-)
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French Guy, 8 Dec 2009 @ 6:08am

Correct translation
The orignal mission statement sent to Christine Albanel is much less harsh than what you report. But your post get the idea when you read between the lines. Here are a few precisions :

1- Christine Albanel is the former ministry of culture and is now "only" an advisor to the government

2 - "the focus is on getting the cooperation of publishers to enforce the 3-strike law" -> 14 out of 70 lines of the mission statement are about fighting piracy. The mission statement address defining EU position regarding projects such as google books and developping a legal offer quickly (offers which appeared much too late in the music and cinema industry) as much as it address the 3-strike-law

3 - My understanding is that the "cooperation" expected from publishers is to make them design technical solutions to massively identify content they "own" which are being shared illegally. Such solution is needed by the government to apply the three-strike-law to the edition industry.

4 - "The letter makes it clear that IP enforcement is seen as the only way to distribute value to authors and distributors". The mission statement don't talk about distributors but "companies who make content available through networks". Note that google or youtube or any website are included in these. So it is more about sharing value between authors and google rather than between authors and majors...
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mgibs17, 11 Jun 2010 @ 10:13am

save,tigers
Well, it’s amazing. The miracle has been done. Hat’s off. Well done, as we know that “hard work always pays off”, after a long struggle with sincere effort it’s done.
--------
mgibs
Tech Help Nerd
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