Slashdot Mirror
French Elections Could Affect HADOPI, ACTA
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."
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.
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
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...
'Piracy has been costly,' Hollande said, 'but I do not think that law enforcement alone is the answer to the problem.'
If law enforcement is not enough, bring in the Inquisition... or Schutzstaffel.
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
What a bold idea.
> At the same time, Hollande is also strongly against piracy
Hollande is strongly for or against whatever, as long as it will get him elected. The guy is 100% pure fluff.
Sarkozy on the other hand is as genuine as it gets, and he will always have my admiration for being able to render an islamic activist speechless during a television interview (those guys usually won't stop babbling).
Sarkozy is the guy that ordered the woman in charge of budget cuts to downsize her own team - that was awesome. He tried to open eyes in France to the danger of having insanely generous social programs (ask the Greeks), unfortunately this might cost him the presidency... many people prefer to dream and Hollande is pretty good at dreaming.
lucm, indeed.
Huh? How'd this make the front page? French internal politics? And such a narrow, parochial viewpoint, too. "A man named Francois Hollande"? That's the best we can do to characterize the man? How about this snippet from The Wikipedia, the Source of all Knowledge: "On 16 October 2011, Hollande was nominated to be the Socialist and Left Radical Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election." Funny how his party affiliation is omitted from the summary. What, it's not relevant?
And not a word about how his #1 rival for the Socialist candidacy, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was very conveniently removed from contention from the French race by being arrested in New York on the shocking charge of rape. Let's quote The Holy Wikipedia again: "On June 30, 2011, the New York Times reported that the case was on the "verge of collapse" because of problems with the credibility of the alleged victim, who had, according to sources within the NYPD, repeatedly lied to the police since making her first statement.[57] According to prosecutors, the accuser admitted that she lied to a grand jury about the events surrounding the alleged attack." Had this rape accusation not happened, DSK would be the nominee going against Sarkozy and not "a man named Francois Hollande."
Hey, I'm not saying socialism is bad. It's been a good influence on Western culture in general. Pretty much every item on Marx's Communist Manifesto has been put into law in all Western countries as well as the United Nations. I'm saying let's put the party affiliation right up there where everyone can see...instead of referring to Hollande purely by gender as "a man". Is there anything to be ashamed of?
I'm also questioning the relevance of some random country's internal politics for a Slashdot front page story, even couched in terms of internet freedoms. And the "from the strategic-surrender-in-order-sometimes dept." part of the story is just a cheap shot. America wouldn't even be an independent republic without help from the French. We'd just be a constitutional monarchy like Canada, with a foreigner as our Head of State. What the hell, Slashdot?
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Have a look at the enormous flip flop that francois did on decriminalization of cannabis. The guy has no principles. He's just another talking head...and a bad one at that! Besides, Sarkozy is going to eat him alive in debates. Don't hold your breathe.
CDs have been known to hold songs, so everyone who buys cds must be forced to pay tribute to Hollywood! This is so weak. I use CDs to backup my code, but I still have to pay off the RIAA/MPAA because they legislate.
God spoke to me
What has what a politician says in opposition got to do with what they'll do if they get into power?
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
"current President and anti-piracy advocate Nicolas Sarkozy" = JEW.
The reason for France being at the forefront of anti-piracy things is Vivendi SA. And it won't make the slightest bit of difference whom is elected president. Vivendi are still there, and still in the pockets of anyone they need to be.
WGAF?
am I the only one who read 'french erections ...'
How long before RIAA /MPAA dig up naked pictures of Francois?
They understand using nuclear power and do it well
SAECM is better than NTSC - tv standards
They were bright enough to go with the Chunnel, despite it taking longer than one election cycle
They do not support Donald Trump for President
They gave the USA the Statue of Liberty and were critical in the Revolutionary War
Maybe they can help in the fight with the RIAA
CDs have been known to hold songs, so everyone who buys cds must be forced to pay tribute to Hollywood! This is so weak. I use CDs to backup my code, but I still have to pay off the RIAA/MPAA because they legislate.
Hmm, you must be Canadian.
On the other hand since you have already paid tribute, I presume you can copy all the songs you want.
During this campaign, François Hollande sent many contradictory signals regarding Hadopi, the anti-piracy legislation. At the beginning of 2012, he said he would abrogate this law. Later he said he would just modify it. Finally he published a letter where he stood aside of the rights holder against pirates, and claimed he would "gather everyone around a table", a trick he used on many topics he wanted to evade. So, even if Hollande is elected (he probably will), no one knows whether he will actually change anything.
Now, on a sidenote, on why French internal policies may have their place on headlines:
* France and Germany are the most influent countries in Europe and a shift of their positions could change the European ones. And since Europe is the first economic power in the world and gathers 27 countries, international treaties and regulations are worthless without it. Here is why such a topic may be of importance.
* If USA's internal policies are on the headlines, why not other countries? Not all of the American policies reported on Slashdot matters for people outside of the USA (95% of the world, the rest of us).
So, yes, a shift in French position regarding the Internet regulation would matter and should be on Slashdot. This news, however, I don't think so.
I'm French and, for us, entrepreneurs, Hollande is not the champion of Internet Freedom, only the champion of adding more and more civil servants payed by a never ending list of taxes (33% on profits, next 35% on dividends, then 50% on your revenues, then 1% on everything you own each year!). Hollande is the one that does not like "richmen" and will bend the City to his will (laugh in the audience at that point).
The amount of hatred she gets directed against her is impressive, But almost all of it is from white men, including members of her own political party. For every "backward" Muslim in the UK, I suspect we can produce at least 10 equally backward white Brits.
You would think that demonising the Muslims would take the pressure off the Jews, the previous candidates of people like the GP for planned world domination. But in their minds it's simple - white people of nominally Christian background should naturally rule the world, so anybody else is a threat. At least, unlike the USA, in this country you can be openly gay or an atheist and still get elected to political office.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
It already exists. Some research suggests that Ecstasy is a gateway drug to more socially liberal attitudes. Why do you think so many politicians are so afraid of it?
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
No he didn't. Learn some history. In WW1, Pétain alone of all the commanders was horrified by the loss of life and did his best to reduce the exposure of soldiers to trench warfare, even rotating much of the French army through Verdun so that nobody would have to spend too long at the Front. He made peace with Germany in WW2 because he did not want a repetition of the destruction. Pétain never supported the Nazis; he tried to minimise their impact. After the war he was vilified by the Resistance, which was understandable, but he seems fundamentally to have been a good man who did his best for France as he saw it. Unless you have taken the trouble to study WW1, especially Verdun, I don't think you should aim casual smears at Pétain.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
If I were French, I wouldn't know who to vote for. Taxes up to 75% and still a huge deficit vs. HADOPI, ACTA and a tad of dictorialism. François Bayrou seems like the best candidate, but he didn't stand a chance in the election. The second round will just be picking the lesser evil...
He could be European too, the same shit comes down in most EU countries.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
... has not been a radical party for over a century. It's /always/ been to the right of the Socialists.