France Continues Its Campaign To Pass The Worst Internet-Related Laws Around

from the who-can-keep-up? dept

Perhaps it's a race of some sort to see which country can pass the worst laws related to the internet possible, and France feels that it's falling behind other countries? After approving a "three strikes" law that will kick those accused (not convicted) of file sharing off the internet, someone in our comments reminded us that France is also looking to implement a file sharing tax on ISPs (Google translation) -- even though there's already such a levy on storage media. So... your connection gets taxed in case you're sharing music, your storage gets taxed again for that same shared music... and you can get kicked offline for it anyway.

And then a bunch of folks have pointed out that French politicians are looking to implement new laws that give police the ability to use keylogging software, force ISPs to censor certain sites on a "banned" list, and create a massive database of information on citizens. All of these things have appeared in other forms around the globe. All with great controversy. So it's quite impressive that France is trying to take them on all at once. Who knows if this latest bill will pass, but it really cements the idea that Sarkozy seriously dislikes the internet, and would like to put as many controls on it as possible.

Filed Under: france, internet, regulations

Good Surprise: French Court Actually Sides With eBay On Counterfeiting Liability

from the getting-it-right dept

While US courts have generally been good about recognizing that eBay is not liable for eBay users selling counterfeit goods on the site, France in the past had gotten the story backwards, saying that eBay was liable, even though the actions were by its users, not by eBay itself. However, in a rather surprising move, a French court has actually sided with eBay against L'Oreal in a similar case. This is a surprise -- but a good one. This is L'Oreal's second loss in such cases against eBay. It lost another such case in nearby Belgium -- but (of course) has also filed similar lawsuits around the globe, hoping that at least one of those courts will side with it over eBay. Hopefully, all of them take notice of how both Belgium and France have ruled, and recognize that this is not eBay's liability.

Filed Under: counterfeits, france, liability, trademark
Companies: ebay, l'oreal

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

French Three Strikes Law Rides Again, EU Rules Be Damned

from the liberte,-egalite,-we-make-you-pay dept

It was a bit of a surprise when the French parliament rejected the country's proposed three-strikes law against file-sharers a few weeks ago. The bill had gotten a lot of support from President Nicolas Sarkozy (who is something of a pirate himself) and many musicians, but it was able to get defeated by a little bit of clever chicanery from the opposition. But the proposal lives on, and has been revived in parliament. This legislation continues, even though there isn't agreement on whether the proposal is okay with the EU's new draft of rules on three-strikes laws. Previous stories on the EU rules seemed to indicate that France had shaped the European rules so that this law would be acceptable, but Billboard says the proposal is in conflict with EU telecom law. One fantastic new detail of the revived bill: the BBC says two members of Sarkozy's party have joined the opposition to the bill, because it features an amendment that would make users who were banned under the law continue to pay their ISP bills. It just gets better and better...

Filed Under: france, nicolas sarkozy, three strikes

EU Reaches Draft Deal That Would Make Three Strikes Provisions More Difficult

from the good-for-them dept

Over in the EU, they've been battling back and forth over telco reform, that has been hung up on the issue of ISPs and three strikes regulations, with countries like France wanting to make sure such things were allowed, and other countries worrying that cutting people off from the internet violated their basic human rights. However, it appears that a "compromise" of sorts has been worked out, whereby countries will be able to enact three strikes laws if they involve an independent and impartial tribunal, rather than the ISPs themselves or copyright holders. So, basically, France can continue down its path (since it was going to establish a gov't bureaucracy anyway).

Filed Under: eu, france, three strikes, tribunal

As Sarkozy Pushes Three Strikes, He Pays Up For His Own Copyright Violations

from the funny-how-that-works dept

We found it rather ironic that, just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was so adamant about passing a three strikes law to kick file sharers off the internet, he was being accused of copyright infringement himself, specifically for using music from the US band MGMT at an event and in two online videos without securing a license. Now, you might hope that this would cause Sarkozy to rethink his stance on copyright infringement. Instead, it looks like his political party has simply agreed to pay up and make the issue go away, while still pushing for the three strikes law. It sounds like they paid about 30,000 euros, which is a lot more than the single euro that Sarkozy's party initially offered (yes, seriously). No word on whether or not this counts towards the number of strikes on Sarkozy's internet connection.

Filed Under: copyright, france, mgmt, nicolas sarkozy

Kicking People Off The Internet Will Encourage Musical Diversity?

from the please-explain dept

After the surprising rejection of Nicholas Sarkozy's "three strikes" law in France to kick file sharers off the internet, Sarkozy and the bill's supporters have decided to bring the law back for another vote on April 29th. While plenty of politicians and consumer groups have urged supporters not to resubmit the bill, Sarkozy apparently will hear nothing of it, insisting that this bill is somehow necessary to "protect creative diversity." Can we ask how? What does kicking people off the internet have to do with creative diversity? It's the same question we asked when U2's manager seemed to think that kicking people off the internet would get people to buy music again. It's fantasy thinking. You don't force people to buy a product they don't want to pay for. It's not clear why so many people think that kicking people off the internet is a viable business model for the recording industry.

Filed Under: france, music, nicholas sarkozy, three strikes

And, Just Like That, France Rejects Three Strikes

from the pendulum-swinging dept

The situation in France just gets stranger and stranger when it comes to the proposed "three strikes" law for kicking music and movie fans off the internet. You probably know that just last week it was approved by legislators in a surprise vote, where just a small number of elected officials waited until most others (who believed the vote would be held later) had left before holding the vote. This resulted in cheers from Hollywood and others in the legacy entertainment business. However, now it appears that The National Assembly has surprised everyone back by rejecting the measure, but with a similarly small group of officials voting. The law was rejected 21 - 15 in what's described as "a near-empty National Assembly." I'm sure more will come out about how this happened, but perhaps politicians who were upset about how it passed in the first place, just played the same trick back. Either way, I'm sure this is not the end of this issue in France (or elsewhere).

Filed Under: france, three strikes

U2's Manager Says No Business Models Work... But Kicking People Off The Internet Will?

from the confusion dept

A bunch of folks have been sending in the opinion piece in the Guardian written by U2's manager Paul McGuinness expressing strong support for France's approval of a three strikes law (ignoring, conveniently, that the law was passed using trickery, telling everyone the vote would happen at a later date, waiting to most elected officials had left, and then passing the law with a vote when only a few people were still around). This isn't a huge surprise, because McGuinness has gone around (loudly) blaming everyone else for the problems in the recording industry (while reaping the rewards of the more than $300 million that U2 brings in per year). So, it's no surprise that he's in favor of laws that puts the onus on others to somehow fix the business model problems he's unwilling to fix. But some of his comments deserve a response:

There are a few simple reasons why the new law deserves strong support. First, the crisis in our music community is real. A generation of artists, all over France, and further afield, are seeing their livelihoods destroyed, their career ambitions stolen. Investment that should help them build careers is draining out of the industry. This isn't just a shift in the business model from recorded to live music. It's a catastrophe for all the business models, old and new. It is a myth that artists can build long-term careers on live music alone....

There are clearly people who oppose the new law, but I have not heard of any viable economic alternative to the system now being introduced, committing ISPs to helping protect copyright. The only other proposals offered look like solutions produced for the laboratory, not for the market place.

That's odd. For someone who claims he's "followed this debate closely" for him to claim that this is a catastrophe for all business models. After all, every single other business related to music has been doing amazingly well. And, we've gone through example after example after example after example of it working in "the marketplace" rather than "the laboratory." And we've discussed how it works for bands small, mid-sized and large -- and works in ways that has allowed them to make more money than they could have in the past. So, for him to claim that those business models don't exist or don't work is simply wrong. Furthermore, he pulls a sleight of hand by pretending that the only other business model is "live music." However, as we've seen live music is one business model that works, but not the only one.

But the key thing, is that McGuinness is confusing protection with a business model. He talks about all the problems with business models, and then seems to jump to the conclusion that kicking people off the internet will suddenly make people buy music again -- as if he can suddenly turn back the clock. Kicking people off the internet doesn't make them feel better about your product. It doesn't make people more comfortable giving money to the recording industry -- it makes them pissed off and eager to spend their money elsewhere.

It's the exact opposite of a business model. It's a "piss your customers off" model.

Meanwhile, the business models that work (the same ones McGuinness is apparently ignorant of) are all about the opposite: they're about appealing to your customers, connecting with them, building up a relationship and trust. McGuinness, instead, prefers to treat them all as criminals. He shouldn't be surprised when they respond with anger rather than money.

Filed Under: business models, france, music, paul mcguinness, three strikes, u2