Browse by topic

News

'Three strikes' law is unconstitutional, says French court

12 June 2009 2:20 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 7 comments

In May, the French National Assembly voted for and passed the controversial 'three strikes' law that would have multiple time piracy offenders stripped of their Internet rights.

Today, the French Constitutional Council has ruled that the law, dubbed the The Creation and Internet bill is unconstitutional and violates the Declaration of 1789. The declaration says that all parties are innocent until proven guilty. The three strikes law would force customers to prove their own innocence.

The Council also says that the bill gives to much authority to a new oversight branch called the "High Authority." The Bill also prevents users from communicating with each other, thus attacking the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

The ruling should set a precedent for other countries that may be considering the law, as it will undoubtedly be deemed unconstitutional in those countries as well.

Critics have long criticized the bill for not only its presumption of guilt, but also the fact that the law encourages the monitoring of Internet traffic, regardless of whether the actions being monitored are legal or illegal.

Permalink to this article

'Three strikes' law will hurt ISPs more than music piracy hurts labels, says BT (26 September 2009)

French Parliament approves 'three strikes law' (23 September 2009)

UK bands fight controversial three-strikes law (13 September 2009)

ISPs blast UK proposal to cut off file sharers (30 August 2009)

Pirated goods seizures explode in EU (10 July 2009)

'Three strikes' law is back in France (10 July 2009)

French pirate receives jail time, fine (6 July 2009)

'Three strikes' law passes in France (12 May 2009)

French 'three strikes' bill back for Parliamentary debate (29 April 2009)

Taiwan passes 'three strikes' anti-piracy law? (29 April 2009)

French National Assembly rejects 'three strikes' legislation (9 April 2009)

'Three strikes' laws will be expensive for ISPs (6 March 2009)

« Previous news article
LG now shipping Netflix-enabled HDTVs

Next news article »
Swedish court says Pirate Bay judge not biased

Post your comment

Discuss this article!
Lothros (Junior Member) 12 June 2009 3:07
French people being rational? THE END IS NIGH! [ + quote]
pphoenix (Inactive) 12 June 2009 7:29
innocent until proven guilty, & civil is not criminal; these concepts appear to be lost in the USA in favour of greedy corporate interests. You could always try standing in the free speech zones to voice your protest over the water there, just watch that you don't become a terrorist in the process for having an anti capitalist opinion! And who are the people responsible for lobbying the governments into destroying your liberties? RIAA: * EMI (Since teh sell out 2 Terra Firma they have been less vocal) * Sony Music Entertainment * Universal Music Group * Warner Music Group MPAA: * Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group (The Walt Disney Company); * Columbia Pictures (Sony Corporation); * Paramount Pictures (Viacom); * 20th Century Fox (News Corporation); * Universal Studios (NBC Universal); and * Warner Bros. (Time Warner). These trade body groups are global but with different titles around the globe, in the UK they are the BPI/MPA EMA, Globally the IFPI/MPA, every country has their own trad body name but it's the same corporate interest behind all the legislation for Hardware DRM, Software DRM, Currently trying to force Isp's to utilise DPI to snoop on all your communications, 3 Strikes then Ur Out, and many other despicable acts. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 12 June 2009 7:33
pphoenix (Inactive) 12 June 2009 7:49
After the epic failure of the fascist dictator style legislation of the 'Three strikes' law, Christine Albanel has backed out of The World Copyright Summit with her tail between her legs, lolololol. Who's afraid of a digital world? The World Copyright Summit also: DRM licensing group presses on with plan to plug analog hole *Originally posted by profit before people:* The AACS-LA plans to phase out analog output of Blu-ray and other AACS-protected content over the next few years. The move is ostensibly to prevent pirating, but it seems more likely to just cause headaches for legitimate consumers. [ + quote]
etkasoe (Member) 12 June 2009 8:54
[ + quote]
sparkery (Junior Member) 12 June 2009 20:23
Viva La France! [ + quote]
Interestx (Junior Member) 13 June 2009 21:22
Way to go Frenchie Judges! [ + quote]
Serialluv (Newbie) 14 June 2009 18:13
OK long time since I posted on here although I still check in every week to keep upto date as much as possible. On this subject I had to log in and say I knew this would happen anyway as the EU had already stated this (yeah yeah I know always one smart arse. Lots of ISP's use DPI anyway but without the resources this is just not feasible. And ISP's aren't going to pay for it. Rock on about time something right was done. OK bring on the flames.... [ + quote]