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French ISP Refuses To Send Out Infringement Notices

Posted by timothy on from the finest-bureaucratic-tradition dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Last month it was clear that French ISPs were not at all happy about the whole three strikes Hadopi process in France. Now that the 'notice' process has started, with Hadopi sending out notices to 10,000 people per day, it's hit a bit of a stumbling block. The French ISP named 'Free' has apparently figured out a bit of a loophole that allows it to not send out notices and protect its subscribers. Specifically, the law requires ISPs to reveal user info to Hadopi, but it does not require them to alert their users. But, the law does say that only users who are alerted by their ISP can be taken to court to be disconnected. In other words, even if Free is handing over user info, so long as it doesn't alert its users (which the law does not mandate), then those users cannot be kicked off the internet via Hadopi."

5 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. 10,000 users a day... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    At what percentage of the population breaking a given law does the law become stupid to have around at all?

  2. they only send 100 notices this first time by zproc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hadopi's required / they say they need to send 25 000 notices per day I believe, but actually send 100 for this time. Also, "Free" handed the IPs on paper instead of providing the data digitally like every other provider. And yes another provider urged the governement to act to make "Free" comply as they sensed "Free" was gaining a little bit more popularity with this trick.

    1. Re:they only send 100 notices this first time by Cinder6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They should take it one step further than paper: run the user info through a CAPTCHA generator so that it can't simply be scanned. Claim something about security to justify it.

      --
      If you can't convince them, convict them.
  3. Re:Where are the parents? by evilandi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm guessing you've not visited France much.

    Farmers and fishermen use loopholes in the law to block entire interstates or major ferry ports for weeks on end.

    There is a deep and wide cultural history of using legal loopholes to embellish protest.

    --
    Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
  4. Free are cool... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Free is my isp in france, and I have to say they have a real clue about things at times. The router/voip/tv box they supply works brilliant and is well thought out, they allow proper reverse dns on static ip's, and its easy to get a fixed ip from them with no blocked ports. The only time theyre let down is by the quality of the psu on the modem and the 1st line support. They also run various mirror sites for FLOSS projects, gentoo etc so it makes my life a lot quicker and easier.
    Ive always strongly got the impression theyve got some serious unix geeks on staff who actually get a say in what happens.

    So, given they technically get it, I am not at all surprised to hear they have a handle on the whole hadopi bullshit and are looking for ways to make life awkward for the people trying to implement it.