As expected, the European Parliament will clear the way for member states to disconnect or suspend the net connections of file-sharers despite moves earlier in the year to use European-level legislation to stop national governments from introducing three-strike type systems for combating online piracy.
As previously reported, the amendment that would have potentially barred three-strikes was dropped last month, amid pressure from content owners and those member states currently considering variations on the three-strikes system, and concerns such a law would go beyond the European Union's legal powers. The final draft of the Telecoms Reform Package in which the rules affecting three-strikes are included is now ready for the big vote in the European Parliament and Council.
In a bid to placate those who oppose national laws that force internet service providers to disconnect or suspend net users who access or share unlicensed content, the new European legislation will say that member state governments must ensure there is a "fair and impartial procedure" before anyone is deprived on their net access. However, in reality that won't appease the consumer rights lobby, as France, who, at the insistence of their own Constitutional Council, have added a nominal judicial stage to their three-strikes system, will say that amounts to a "fair and impartial procedure". But consumer rights types don't like the French system.Commenting on the watered down wording of the European telecoms legislation on file-sharing, Monique Goyens, the director general of BEUC, a European consumers' organisation, is quoted by Billboard thus: "It has been long hard battle but at least all sides have acknowledged that fundamental rights of users need to be guaranteed in the digital world. However, these rights will be meaningless if laws are allowed to be enforced at national level".
BEUC is now calling for a "fundamental re-examination and overall assessment" about what constitutes illegal downloading - and an independent evaluation of the economic harm of online piracy to the music and film industry.