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French Assembly Rejects Three Strikes Bill
An anonymous reader writes "The French Assembly has rejected the Three Strikes bill (in French!) which would allow ISPs to cut off users found to have been downloading protected content after two warnings.
Summary: the Sarkozy administration can go back with a new draft for approval by both chambers or try to get upper house approval of a softer version without the cutoff passed by the lower house."
As if the National Assembly would adopt a policy rooted in the Diversion Nationale de les Etats Unis.
They actually will get another attempt that needs to go through Senate and the assembly. (not unlimited though)
The opposition took advantage of the very low attendance by the majority party: a dozen opposition MPs showed up at the last minute (apparently coordinated by my deputy, Mr Bloche), preventing the majority from gathering its troops. The vote failed 15 to 21 (there are 577 members in the lower chamber).
The law is not rejected for good, because the government can (and probably will) push for a second reading in both chambers, and it has a large enough majority to get it through. But this event is going to push the issue into the spotlight, and may also allow the European Parliament to once again vote its opposition to the principle (amendment 46 to the Telecom Package), while the opposition gains team.
Indeed, just a few days ago, a few prominent actors and directors such as Catherine Deneuve or Victoria Abril signed an open letter opposing the law, thereby disproving the main talking point of the proponents: not all artists are united behind Sarkozy-Universal.
Before you get too excited, be aware that the rejection was primarily due to the absence of several government-party members of parliament. The government intends to re-present the bill after the easter recess, and presumably will make sure that all its members of parliament show up. At that point, the law will presumably be approved.
The government cannot re-present the exact same bill, however, so they'll have to make at least a few changes.
(disclaimer: written by a native "is baseball a kind of dutch cheese?" country). The Assembly is now entering some holidays so press will enjoy the news for the next days, but be sure the law will pass in less than two months (as Mr. Sarkozy has personally expressed a deep interest into it). Even if a very unlikely situation would happen & the text is then supported by a minority and would never been voted as it is, the government has a magic kind of "execute order 66" to bypass assembly and will not be afraid to use it (they already done it). This is the kind of democracy we get in France since Mr. S has arrived where he wanted to!
No, this bill only affects you if you are accused by a private company of having broken the law - no attempt will be made of finding out whether you actual did download something, and you will not be informed of what you are accused of having downloaded, so you will be unable to defend yourself.
Also it's not "three strikes and you're out" it's "one strike and you're out" - you may receive two warnings by e-mail if the HADOPI feel like it, but being e-mail nobody can be sure it'll get through.
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Sorry, that's one warning by e-mail and one recommended letter. So "two strikes".
Watch this Heartland Institute video