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French Elections Could Affect HADOPI, ACTA

Posted by timothy on from the strategic-surrender-in-order-sometimes dept.

bs0d3 writes "From having a position in the development and support of ACTA, to implementation of HADOPI, to imposing an internet tax to pay for music; France has been at the forefront of anti-piracy legislation. This week, it has been announced that current President and anti-piracy advocate Nicolas Sarkozy is unlikely to win the next election. His leading opponent is a man named Francois Hollande. Hollande has in the past opposed both ACTA and HADOPI (France's 3 strikes law). Hollande believes that ACTA, 'originally intended to combat counterfeiting trade[,] was gradually diverted from its objective, in the utmost discretion and without any democratic process.' At the same time, Hollande is also strongly against piracy. 'Piracy has been costly,' Hollande said, 'but I do not think that law enforcement alone is the answer to the problem.' Will internet issues be of concern to the voters in France? It certainly is to the rest of us internet users."

7 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Too early to tell by Jedi+Alec · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Considering Sarkozy got only 1% less of the vote than Hollande in the first round, it's far too early to call it. All the folks that voted for other candidates will pick 1 of the 2 in the next round, and considering the massive amount of votes that went to Le Pen...we might very well be seeing more of Sarkozy.

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    1. Re:Too early to tell by rsborg · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Considering Sarkozy got only 1% less of the vote than Hollande in the first round, it's far too early to call it. All the folks that voted for other candidates will pick 1 of the 2 in the next round, and considering the massive amount of votes that went to Le Pen...we might very well be seeing more of Sarkozy.

      There are a lot bad signs for Sarkozy. For one, this is the first election in France's 5th republic where the sitting president didn't come out on top in the first-round popular vote [1]. Another is that Sarkozy has yielded his platform to the extreme right - this not only transfers power in the hands of Le Pen, but will piss off many of the non-extreme right wing voters. He has a very tough fight coming up, and I predict, barring any last-minute gimmicks/scandals, he'll lose it.

      [1] http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/04/hollande-beats-sarkozy-in-french-first-round-voting/

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    2. Re:Too early to tell by Luckyo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There is one difference though. To Sarkozy, piracy and copyright infringement is personal because of his wife. To Hollande, it's business as usual.

  2. Right to be left.. by uhuru_meditation · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If only Germans would get rid of Merkel and Dutch of their freaky Wilders things in Europe would already look a lot different and imported ideas of "freedom" from USA including SOPA, CISPA would be laughed at and rejected with an ease. Soon...

    1. Re:Right to be left.. by Dekker3D · · Score: 4, Interesting

      As a dutchman, I'm telling you that plenty of us would be happy to kick Wilders out of the country-... or better yet, launch him on a one-way trip to space if we can. But we can't seem to get him out of our politics democratically because a lot of christians vote for him out of fear of muslims.

      Apparently, for some of us any muslim is worth losing all common sense over. I guess.. that's some bonus points to them muslim-folks?
      Seriously though, this deserves a huge facepalm.

    2. Re:Right to be left.. by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In other words, you disagree with the majority of your voters?

      I think in any democracy, from time to time, we all agree with Churchill when elections don't go the way we think they should: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

    3. Re:Right to be left.. by MtHuurne · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Was it effective? I doubt Wilders would have become as popular as he is if Fortuyn were still around. At least Fortuyn was remarkably honest for a politician, while I get the impression that Wilders is playing one big popularity game. The problem is not Wilders himself, but that a large number of people vote for him.