(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — After making its way through France’s senate last month, legislation designed to sever the Internet connections of individuals who repeatedly download music and films illegally has been stricken down by the French constitutional council.
According to mainstream media reports, the bill, known as “Création et Internet” or “HADOPI,” calls upon Internet service providers to give customers two warnings that they are accused of infringing copyright before cutting off their Internet access entirely for up to a year — while still charging them. The bill passed in France’s lower house 296 to 233, and in the senate 189 to 14 Wednesday in May before being overruled by the constitutional council, which deemed “free access” to online communications services a human right, which cannot be withheld barring a judge’s intervention, according to a report by UK newspaper The Guardian.
The anti-piracy bill, according to the AP, was a show of force by President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing Conservatives after an initial failure a month prior, however, it was met by protest from Internet freedom activists. French group La Quadrature du Net (www.laquadrature.net) stated that HADOPI “opposes [the] fundamental principles of French and European law, including the respect of a fair trial, principle of proportionality and separation of powers.”
La Quadrature du Net co-founder Jérémie Zimmermann said that HADOPI could have helped refocus the debate on inventing new schemes for funding media industries, while still valuing the importance of civil liberties in the digital age.
France’s threatening stance on Internet piracy follows a trend among European governments, such as Sweden’s conviction of four individuals responsible for the file-sharing website the Pirate Bay (www.thepiratebay.org). Also, going above the heads of torrent tracker owners, music industry lobby group IFPI (www.ifpi.org) took the opportunity to contact upstream Swedish hosts directly in an effort to shutdown torrent sites.
In a week, UK communications minister Lord Carter will be unveiling his final Digital Britain report next week, which is likely to propose legislation on safe-guarding the UK’s creative industries from online piracy. He has said, however, that he is opposed to France’s HADOPI approach.
