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...
Confusing France and Nazi Germany is just fucking dumb.
(+1, Disagree)
What a bold idea.
"will you convert? No no'
'Will you confess? NOnoi'
Well then
BRING ON THE NUNS!!!
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
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!
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?
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.
so we should ask the greeks about their "insanely generous social programs"? funny guy.
Yes, you should. They drove the country to the very brink of bankruptcy.
greece has never had any "social programs" worth to mention whatsoever. they just had massive state employment. but that they have had for decades without "driving to the very brink of bankruptcy". they are almost broke now, thanks to political corruption and financial speculation and incidentally germany and france had plenty to do with it, not to forget goldman sachs.
I think you're confusing "massive defrauding of governments on social programs" with "insanely generous social programs".
They have shit like islands with almost ten percent of people being registered as legally blind. It's simply widespread fraud that's become the "way of the land". It has little to nothing to do with social programs themselves and everything to do with massive corruption and self-centred cultural issues.
There is nothing wrong with "flipflopping". One of the most successful chancellors of Germany is often quoted with "What do I care about my chitchat from yesterday?".
If new information changes the situation, if one gets convinced that the own stance was misguided, why not make up your mind and change your opinion? People unable to react if circumstances change and old concepts cede to work should not be the masters of our fate.
Actually, his father is hungarian, and his mother, while french, is of jewish-greek origin.
> Sarkozy is the guy that ordered the woman in charge of budget cuts to downsize her own team He is also the one who increased the president's salary by 50 %. A month after he got elected. Nice, ain't it?
greece hasn't defaulted yet. second "rescue" plan avoided that for now.
Did investors take a 'haircut'? Then it's a default, no matter what else you want to call it. They couldn't pay their bills and needed to restructure.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
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
Greece's social programs are pretty pitiful. Scandinavia, now there is somewhere with generous social programs. Greece doesn't even have free universal healthcare, and its unemployment insurance is a joke compare to the norms in Scandinavia.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Did investors take a 'haircut'? Then it's a default, no matter what else you want to call it. They couldn't pay their bills and needed to restructure.
No.
A negotiated restructuring is not the same as a default.
No matter how you slice it or play at words, it isn't the same.
That said, what the Greeks did was a defacto orderly default.
But because they got everyone on board, they don't have to call it one.
Greece is the perfect example of:
"If someone owes you $10 bucks, they have a problem. If someone owes you $1,000,000,000 you have a problem."
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
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.
And they also work more hours per year than people in the USA, the UK, France or Germany. But who cares about economical facts as long as one can go with sterotypes and urge us to look at Greece to justify anti-social, anti-taxes and anti-regulation programs?
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."
You conveniently gloss over the fact that Petain also established a dictatorship within France itself, in direct contravention of all republican principles that the Third Republic stood on. He instituted a secret police that detained and tortured dissenters. And he shipped many Jews over to German death camps. That is what he is vilified for, not just making peace with Germans.
Well, if the Greeks WOULD pay their tax, it might be different. :)
But I don't mind our tax (I pay about 50% given my income), as long as I get something back from it. And when I look around myself, I can't help but agree that it's well spent money.
Retirement? Covered. Unemployment? 6 months of getting my current paycheck, then getting enough to survive on. Sick leave? Indefinite, with payment, and all medical expenses (ok, safe a few bucks participation) covered. Injury/health? Covered, no limit. Crime? Lowest in Europe (yes, despite 10% immigrant rates, dear xenophobes). Unemployment level? Around 5%. Public transport? 6 minutes intervals during the day, 15 minutes during the night (at least in cities > 200.000 people). Roads? In perfect repair (though I have to pay extra to use highways). Power/gas/water? Very affordable. Food? Basic food (bread, butter, milk...) is subsidized, you can survive on 3 bucks a day if you really have to (no need to kill old grannies for their purse, even if you have nothing at all). Education? Free until university level, then it's about 400-1000 tuition fee a year.
Should I go on?
And all that on a tax level that the average US citizen would have revolted long ago.
But tell me, who's better off? Me, or a Greek?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I cannot help but wonder if there has been an ulterior motive for the whole deal...
There is. German and French banks are among the biggest creditors of Greece. So a large part of it has likely been to keep the French and German banks from collapsing. The also locked Greece into a stricter deal, which says on their new bonds, they cannot default, unlike their old bonds. I'm not sure how likely they will be to enforce that, though.
Also, over recent months, the European central bank has been loaning money cheaply to regional European banks (ie, French and German), who then loan the money to indebted governments of Europe. The point of this exercise is to give free money to the banks in interest payments. Eventually the whole thing will collapse, but it won't be the first time, or even the second, and we will survive.
It would be interesting to know how much France and Germany pressured Greece to not make cuts in defense spending. They do have medium-warm conflict going on with Turkey.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."