Sarkozy Talks About 3 Strikes As Defending Freedom, But Only Freedom For The Industry

from the individuals-need-not-apply dept

It appears that French President Nicolas Sarkozy still cannot understand why so many people are opposed to a "three strikes" rule for cutting people off the internet. Despite it just being ruled unconstitutional in France, Sarkozy is still standing by the law fully, promising to "go all the way" in getting it implemented. His reasoning, however, is quite bizarre, and shows a very narrow view of creativity these days:

"By defending copyright I do not just defend artistic creation, I also defend my idea of a free society where everyone's freedom is based on respect for the rights of others. I am also defending the future of our culture. It is the future of creation."

That shows a massive misunderstanding of creativity, expression and freedom these days. He's basically saying that freedom of expression shall only apply to "professional" creators, who get rights. Everyone else's rights get trampled. I don't quite see how that's a "free society" at all. It sounds like a corporately owned society, where the rights of certain "professionals" outweigh the rights of individuals.

Filed Under: france, freedom, nicolas sarkozy, three strikes

Recording Industry Sues More Irish ISPs For Not Implementing 3 Strikes

from the but-where's-the-law? dept

Ireland has not implemented any sort of "three strikes" law for getting ISPs to kick file sharers off the internet, but don't tell that to the recording industry there. A little over a year ago, you may recall that the recording industry sued leading Irish ISP Eircom, claiming that its failure to stop file sharing on its network broke the law. That was quite a claim -- and about the only actual "evidence" was that because some execs from Eircom had some internal emails where they joked about piracy, then obviously the ISP was guilty. Rather than deal with an expensive court proceeding, Eircom quickly settled, and agreed to put in place a three strikes rule (despite being under no legal obligation to do so).

However, because Eircom was worried about the competitive nature of the industry -- and how users might flock to other ISPs, it apparently had the labels agree to go after other ISPs as well. In fact, very soon after the agreement, the local recording industry association (the Irish Recorded Music Association -- IRMA) sent letters to other ISPs falsely claiming that under European law, they too needed to implement three strikes -- to which those ISPs responded by pointing out the law said no such thing.

Apparently IRMA would like to put that to the test. It's now sued two other Irish ISPs: the second largest telco (BT Ireland) and the largest cable ISP, UPC Ireland. UPC Ireland seems ready to vigorously defend itself, noting: "There is no basis under Irish law requiring ISPs to control, access or block the internet content its users download. In addition, the rights-holders' proposal gives rise to serious concerns for data privacy and consumer contract law."

Filed Under: ireland, three strikes
Companies: bt ireland, eircom, irma, upc ireland

Study Says File Sharers Would Ignore Warning Letters; Recording Industry Gets The Wrong Message

from the let's-try-this-again... dept

The fight in the UK over how the recording industry will deal with future business models continues. The industry has been pushing hard for ISPs to start kicking people offline, believing (oddly) that pissing off a lot of people and making them lose their internet connections will magically make people want to buy music again -- rather than the reality: which is that it will piss off even more people and make them even less inclined to spend money on the industry. Yet, UK politicians have so far stood firm against a three strikes policy, sometimes claiming that merely sending warning letters should be enough to scare unauthorized file sharers straight. So, of course, it didn't take long for a new industry study to come out saying that a high percentage (around 67%) of file sharers would likely ignore such letters unless they were backed up by other measures, such as a three strikes regime.

So, of course, the industry is using this to demand more than just warning letters be mandated by UK law. But, once again, it appears the industry is getting the wrong message. Rather than realizing what the study is actually saying -- that unauthorized file sharing won't stop -- it seems to think that if it just finds that magic legal bullet, suddenly file sharing will go away and people will start spending again. What they should have recognized is that this study says that people will go to great lengths to file share, even if they know it's illegal, because they do not believe it is wrong or unethical. And, as such, if the industry reps were thinking this through, they might realize that this represents a giant opportunity to build business models around embracing such fan activities, rather than trying to hold back the tide.

Filed Under: file sharing, graduated response, recording industry, three strikes, uk, warning letters

French Constitutional Council Guts 'Three Strikes' As Unconstitutional

from the sorry-Sarkozy dept

Well, that didn't last long at all... After some back and forth (and tremendous pressure from French President -- and known copyright infringer -- Nicolas Sarkozy), France passed a three strikes law that would kick people off the internet for three accusations of unauthorized file sharing. However, it looks like the law may be going nowhere fast. France's Constitutional Council has gutted the law, after finding significant constitutional problems with it. The Council specifically barred the heart of the law: the cutting people off the internet part, noting:

communication and liberty of expression are fundamental rights that only a judge can rule on.

Indeed. The council said that it could be okay to cut off internet users... but only with a judge's permission. It's expected that the law may be adjusted to push these issues in front of a judge -- but that's a much better (though still not perfect) situation, since a judge should at least require evidence rather than simple accusations. Either way, it's yet another defeat for an industry that continues to insist that somehow kicking people offline is going to "save" the industry.

Filed Under: constitution, france, graduated response, nicolas sarkozy, three strikes

British Government Says No To Three Strikes

from the technical-measures dept

The British government has been working on its "Digital Britain" report, which covers a range of tech issues, including copyright and file-sharing. Earlier drafts of the report basically seemed like a proxy for the recording industry, as the government looked to set up an agency run by the industry itself to police copyright infringement. One of the industry's goals has been for the government to deputize ISPs, and force them to keep tabs on their customers' activity and take steps to cut down on illegal downloading and file-sharing. The ultimate goal of the British recording industry, like its counterparts elsewhere, was to see the country adopt a three-strikes system that would see persistent infringers booted off ISPs' networks. But a government minister has implied the final Digital Britain report won't back a three-strikes plan, and will likely include new (and undefined) "technical solutions" to be determined by the UK's communications regulator, alongside mandating that ISPs send out notification letters to illegal downloaders. There is speculation that these technical solutions will involve speed caps on infringing users, which sounds like a less bad plan than three strikes -- but it's still not clear why the government, or ISPs, need to get involved to help prop up the recording industry's faltering business models.

Filed Under: file sharing, technical measures, three strikes, uk

Six Months And Still No ISPs Officially Signed Up On The RIAA's Program

from the so-now-what? dept

Six months ago, you may recall, the RIAA announced that it was shifting its strategies away from suing individuals (though, it would and has continued to sue some) towards working with ISPs to kick file sharers off the internet via a three strikes policy (the industry prefers "graduated response"). However, no one could find any ISPs who had agreed to it, despite rumors that Comcast and AT&T were onboard. Yet, when later comments made people think that AT&T had agreed to such a plan, AT&T issued a denial, claiming that it was not working with the RIAA in that way. Now, Greg Sandoval points out that there still aren't any ISPs officially signed on. Among the interesting nuggets in the article is the report that the RIAA thought it could pressure ISPs into signing up by having NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo take their side. The only problem? The ISPs know that there's absolutely no legal angle that could force them into a 3 strikes policy, so Cuomo has no power to do anything. So, basically, for now not much has changed. The RIAA (post-layoffs) is still conducting lawsuits (though, fewer of them) and is hoping to push ISPs into agreeing to a plan most ISPs recognize would piss off most of their customers. But, of course, never count the RIAA out. For too long, they've shown that when they're stopped at one door, they've already been planning for many months to sneak in through one of many backdoors.

Filed Under: isps, three strikes
Companies: riaa

No Surprise Here: Three Strikes Law Creates Opportunity For Encrypted VPN Services In France

from the as-expected dept

Just as we saw how stricter laws on unauthorized file sharing increased the demand for encryption services in Sweden, Dan alerts us to the news that new encryption services are popping up in France in response to that country's recent approval of a law to kick file sharers off the internet. And so the cat and mouse game continues. Perhaps at some point, rather than fighting new technologies and consumer wishes, some of these politicians and copyright holders will decide to embrace the technology and use it to their advantage. Otherwise, they're just going to find that they'll keep passing ever more useless laws, driving people to newer and newer technologies to get around those laws.

Filed Under: encryption, france, three strikes

Why Not Apply A Three Strikes Rule To Everything?

from the watch-the-accusations-fly... dept

Back when the entertainment industry first got serious about pushing its silly three strikes concept, we were among those who wondered if the entertainment industry would accept a reverse three strikes rule, meaning that if they send three bogus accusations, they lose their own internet access.

However, leave it to Ed Felten to demonstrate just how ridiculous any sort of three strikes policy is -- especially one based on accusations, rather than convictions -- by suggesting that we extend a three strikes rule to print as well, noting that the reasoning behind the internet three strikes rules seem to also apply to print:

My proposed system is simplicity itself. The government sets up a registry of accused infringers. Anybody can send a complaint to the registry, asserting that someone is infringing their copyright in the print medium. If the government registry receives three complaints about a person, that person is banned for a year from using print.

As in the Internet case, the ban applies to both reading and writing, and to all uses of print, including informal ones. In short, a banned person may not write or read anything for a year.

A few naysayers may argue that print bans might be hard to enforce, and that banning communication based on mere accusations of wrongdoing raises some minor issues of due process and free speech. But if those issues don't trouble us in the Internet setting, why should they trouble us here?

Yes, if banned from using print, some students will be unable to do their school work, some adults will face minor inconvenience in their daily lives, and a few troublemakers will not be allowed to participate in -- or even listen to -- political debate. Maybe they'll think more carefully the next time, before allowing themselves to be accused of copyright infringement.

In short, a three-strikes system is just as good an idea for print as it is for the Internet. Which country will be the first to adopt it?

It seems like anyone who thinks three strikes rules are a smart idea should be required to (a) read this and (b) explain why it shouldn't apply to print.

Filed Under: copyright, ed felten, modest proposal, three strikes

France Strikes Out: Approves Cutting People Off The Internet

from the this-will-end-badly dept

It was quite a surprise when French politicians rejected a "three strikes" (or, as Bill Patry calls it: "the digital guillotine") law that would have ISPs disconnect file sharers from the internet on three accusations (not convictions). However, seeing as French president Nicolas Sarkozy was a huge supporter of this idea (despite the fact that he had no problems infringing copyrights himself), you knew it would come back. And, indeed, it's back. France's National Assembly has now approved a three strikes law by a vote of 296 to 233. It's expected that the upper house of the French Parliament will approve it tomorrow.

Of course, there are significant questions about the legality of the law. Considering that the EU just said that such a three strikes policy is not allowed, you have to imagine that we haven't heard the last about whether or not this new law is considered legitimate.

Still, the thing that is most amusing about this is how supporters of such three strikes rules somehow seem to think that this will suddenly make people buy again. There's no evidence that this is true, whatsoever. But the main backer of this bill in France claims that this is:

"an important step toward preserving cultural diversity and the industries threatened by piracy."

How? By kicking fans of the work offline? The most telling part of this statement is that it's about preserving the industries "threatened" by piracy, not the actual creators of content. That's because this is a law to protect legacy industries, not content creators.

Filed Under: france, nicolas sarkozy, three strikes

Employee Of French TV Station Fired For Criticizing Three Strikes Plan

from the yikes dept

I always thought that French labor laws made it quite difficult to get fired. I guess that's until you express your opinion that a "three strikes" law that would kick people off the internet is a bad idea. Yann brings to our attention a story about a guy who worked on the web side of giant French TV network TF1 and wrote his parliamentary representative an email from his personal gmail account, explaining why he thought a "three strikes" law was a bad idea. His rep, Francoise de Panafieu, who supports Sarkozy (members of the same party) apparently forwarded the letter to the French minister of culture (who is a major backer of the law), Christine Albanel, who then sent it back to the legal department at TF1... causing the guy to get fired (link in French, here's the Google translation). TF1 supposedly claimed that the reason for the dismissal was that it fully supported the law (though it had never made that position public, and as a news organization, was supposed to be impartial to the bill), claiming that it was in its own economic best interests to support "three strikes."

Filed Under: fired, france, three strikes
Companies: tf1