France’s lower house has today approved the extremely controversial “three-strikes” law for Internet pirates, giving authorities the power to disconnect multiple time offenders from the Internet completely.
The media industry has been behind the bill in the UK, France and other nations for some time now, but strong criticism, from groups who claim the bill will threaten our civil liberties, has kept it as just a bill for over a year now.
The French Culture Ministry has said they expect about 1000 French Internet users to be kicked offline, every day, if the bill becomes law. Besides being disconnected, pirates also face a fine as high as euro 300,000 (about $440,000 USD).
Unknowing parents whose kids use the family computer to download unauthorized content are also subject to the law, which will have the family’s Internet cut off for a month along with a euro 3,750 fine.
The National Assembly voted to pass the bill with a final tally of 285-225 in favor.
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand added: “Artists will remember that we at last had the courage to break with the laissez-faire approach and protect their rights from people who want to turn the net into their libertarian utopia.”
Enforcement of the law still remains utterly questionable, with lawmakers and the media industry still working out the methods.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how they can expect us to purchase the music legally, if 1000 possible customers are kicked off the Internet everyday.
Result for: culture ministry
According to Billboard, Spain is the next country to adopt the ‘iPod Tax’, which will formally go into effect on July 1st.
The new tax will apply to all electronic devices “capable of copying or recording sound and images, even to the extent of applying to printers, scanners and ink cartridges.” The fee will depend on each device with MP3 players costing an extra €3.15 each. Devices such as cellphones with cameras and MP3 players will only cost a €1.10 extra.
The tax is intended to give publishers and artists extra money to offset the alleged costs of piracy but has been very controversial in Spain and in other countries around the world as well. Both electronics makers and consumer groups have tried to fight to tax, and were successful for a while. In fact, the tax was first passed 18 months ago in Spain but has been delayed due to the debates.
The terms of the tax also say that “at least €110.2 million must be collected in the first year, but not more than €117.8 million.” If more or less are collected, then the tax goes to the culture ministry for revisions.
