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: internet pirates
The popular bands Blur and Radiohead have teamed up to fight the British government’s plan to begin “three strikes” laws against Internet pirates, one that has pirates kicked off the Internet for downloading unauthorized music three times.
The FAC (Featured Artists Coalition), will represent the “best interests” of the recording artists, and believes that file sharing in fact is better for the artist, as it encourages concert ticket sales and merchandising. The FAC does conceit that file sharing hurts record sales however.
The Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien adds: “My generation grew up with the point of view that you pay for your music. Every generation has a different method.
“File sharing is like a sampler, like taping your mate’s music. You go, ‘I like that, I’ll go and buy the album’. Or, ‘you know what, I’ll go and see them live’. What’s going on is a huge paradigm shift.”
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree also added: “The fact that file sharing goes on, and is as popular as it is, is an incredibly positive thing for the music industry. The fact is that music is so popular that people are willing to break the law to get it.”
All the bands in the group add that file sharing is bringing their music to new generations of fans, those that did not grow up with a radio, and instead grew up with the Internet.
Says Nick Mason, drummer with Pink Floyd: “The last thing we want to be doing is going to war with our fan base. File sharing means a new generation of fans for us.”
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Result for: internet pirates
Just as it has been in the UK and around Europe, the proposed ‘three strikes’ law for Internet pirates has been shut down in Germany.
The three strikes law would force ISPs to give two warnings to suspected unauthorized file sharers and then shut down their Internet connection on the ‘third strike.’
The German Department of Justice has met with German ISPs and one clear conclusion was made: Three Strikes laws are “incompatible with German pirvacy and telecommunications laws.”
In response, the IFPI said Germany would possibly face a competitive disadvantage against other countries that are still debating enacting the laws.
Germany’s Secretary of Justice Brigitte Zypries added:
“I don’t think that (Three Strikes) is a fitting model for Germany or even Europe. Preventing someone from accessing the Internet seems like a completely unreasonable punishment to me. It would be highly problematic due to both constitutional and political aspects. I’m sure that once the first disconnects are going to happen in France, we will be hearing the outcry all the way to Berlin.”
