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One French ISP stands its ground against trois-strikes

By | Published on Monday 11 October 2010

Three-strikes is underway in France, but one French ISP is refusing to play ball. According to Torrentfreak, net firm Free has refused to send out warning letters on behalf of the government’s anti-piracy Hadopi agency, because the vague wording of the laws that set up trios-strikes technically speaking don’t obligate them to.

In reality, it seems unlikely Free will be able to resist sending out the three-strike letters forever, and their current policy is probably a delaying tactic. Other net firms are accusing Free of adopting the awkward stance to win competitive advantage, because file-sharers will drift towards them now that all other French ISPs are sending out warning letters.

The government has said it will issue a Free-targeted decree ordering all ISPs to participate in the letter sending, though Guillaume Champeau of French news outlet Numerama told TorrentFreak: “It is yet to be seen if [the government’s decree] can be legally issued, since the law does not mandate any obligation for the ISPs to send the emails themselves”.



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