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French parliament votes to axe three-strikes in seven MP vote
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 3 May 2016
France’s trois-strikes anti-piracy law was back in the spotlight last week after an almost empty National Assembly voted to axe the graduated response system that was set up to combat online copyright infringement.
France was one of the first countries to embrace the three-strikes system for combating online piracy, in which internet service providers are forced to send increasingly stern warning letters to suspected file-sharers, with the threat of some kind of sanction if three letters are ignored. Initially that sanction was going to be internet disconnection, though the system was watered down somewhat once up and running, with political support for the initiative wavering at various points in subsequent years.
Nevertheless, the body set up to run trois-strikes – Hadopi – continues to dish out warning notices, and in a few hundred cases further action has been taken after repeated warnings about infringing activity were ignored. As it currently stands, the French anti-piracy programme continues to enjoy government support.
Which is why ministers will be kicking themselves for letting a vote on the future of Hadopi go through the lower house of the French parliament when only seven MPs were in attendance. According to Next Inpact, the country’s Green Party got a motion calling on Hadopi and three-strikes to be abolished by 2022 through the National Assembly four votes to three.
The proposal still needs to get through the country’s Senate, where the government will almost certainly see it off, but the Greens say the sneaky National Assembly vote really aimed to put the spotlight on the fact that some politicians – including French President François Hollande – have previously questioned the logic of the current anti-piracy programme, but then continue to support the operations of Hadopi.