France trying to force draconian internet law on EU

[cyberianpan]

It seems that France is going to try to force it's poor law on us... 3 unsubstantiated claims of copyright infringement and you'll lose internet access !

Wired
France takes over EU, dragging its Internet policy with it
By Bruce Sterling

With France taking over the presidency of the European Union on 1 July 2008, the French Minister of Culture, Christine Albanel, wants to get a consensus in the fight against p2p downloading by translating the French model to the entire Europe.

The law has been approved by the French Government and it will be debated in the two chambers of the Parliament. Despite Albanel's confidence in the draft law and her determination to make it pass, the law is facing a large range of opposition starting with the European Parliament, CNIL, ISOC, reservations from the State Council, ARCEP and ending with criticism from parliamentarians, public opinion, access suppliers and press.

His interest seems to have heightened due to his new wife:

London Times
The law has strong backing from Mr Sarkozy, who has taken a close interest in artists’ rights since marrying Carla Bruni, a model and folk singer.

Mocking the scheme yesterday Libération newspaper gave warning that families could be stripped of their internet and broadband telephone and television if a neighbour’s teenager uses their wireless router to load his iPod.

It's possible (can't source this better) that Sarkozy is trying to sneak this in the backdoor:

Boing Boing
EUROPEANS! You have until MONDAY to contact your MEP and save the EU from a three-strikes copyright rule!
Posted by Cory Doctorow, July 5, 2008 7:17 AM | permalink
Back-room dealings in the European Parliament have resulted in a "three strikes" rule being included in a new telecoms bill -- the rule would force ISPs to kick people who've been thrice accused of copyright infringement off the Internet.

If this bill passes, then Europeans' access to the network that delivers freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, access to medicine, family, civic engagement, banking, government services, and the whole sweep of human online endeavor would last only so long as they avoided three unsubstantiated accusations of downloading music or video or software without permission.

the Guardian suggests we ought to be able to go after companies that issue bogus copytheft noices:

the Guardian
They're not even proposing that this punishment should be reserved for convicted infringers.

I think we should permanently cut off the internet access of any company that sends out three erroneous copyright notices. Three strikes and you're out, mate.

Does Eamon Ryan have an opinion on this ?

cYp

[solair]

In an Irish context the ISP would be acting "ultra vires" i.e. making a decision that should only be made by a court.
If denying access to internet access based on an unsubstantiated claim were allowed, the ISP would have to have a system of due process similar to a court. Otherwise, they could be facing major legal bills.

The reality is that denying someone internet access could impact adversely on their business or personal life, so it would undoubtedly end up as a case before the courts if ISPs were to go this route.

Also, it would mean that ISPs were chucking their 'neutral carrier' status down the toilet and taking on the policing of traffic on their networks. This might mean that they'd suddenly be lible for child porn, fraudulent emails, spam etc... It could even mean that end users could sue the ISP because it allowed a virus to reach their computer.

The consequences of such a ridiculous rulling are pretty serious for the whole internet service.

[John_C]

Can France force laws onto the EU? I don't remember voting for that.

[CookieMonster]

Good to see Sarkozy putting his five or six remarkably fertile brains to good use.

Can France force laws onto the EU? I don't remember voting for that.

If Sarko has he way you never will either.

[myksav]

How do you say Sieg Heil in French?

[FutureTaoiseach]

It's a scandal that this proposal would apparently punish people for what their neighbours are doing. It's yet another example of the authoritarian and undemocratic Europe some of the elites pushing the Lisbon treaty want to take us to.