The French government says it stands by its proposals to introduce that slightly controversial 'three strikes' rule in relation to illegal file sharing, despite a new European rule which may make it difficult to enforce.
As much previously reported, French President Nicolas Sarkozy last year threw his support behind proposals to force French internet service providers to send official warnings to individuals that the record industry believe are illegally sharing music online and, if said warnings are not heeded, to cut said individual's internet connections off.
A similar proposal has been discussed here in the UK, where the British government has made similar noises to the effect that it would force the ISPs to act if they do not voluntarily take appropriate action to curb online piracy - though they have not been quite so explicit with regards making the three strikes proposal law, and with the UK net firms seemingly starting to take a more proactive role of sorts without new legislation, there's a chance we'll never find out whether that was actually being considered by political types.
But back to France, where the proposed 'internet and creation' law, which includes the three strikes proposal, is still on the agenda. The plans are yet to go before the French parliament, and some commentators questioned whether it ever would after an amendment to internet privacy rules in the European Parliament last week.
The amendment, part of the European body's telecoms regulations, says: "No restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of end-users without a prior ruling of the judicial authorities... save when public security is threatened, in which case the ruling may be subsequent". That might mean a system where net users suspected of file sharing are cut off without any court ruling on their guilt would be unlawful in the eyes of the European Parliament. And the MEP behind the amendment, Guy Bono, explicitly said so on his own blog, writing last week: "European Parliament said no to the 'riposte graduee' [three-strike scheme] as advocated in France".
However, French Culture Minister Christine Albanel pointed out that [a] the amendment had only been adopted by the European Parliament at "first reading" and may as yet not become European law, but moreover that [b] in her government's mind the new European measures wouldn't hinder the 'internet and creation' law because the three strike system would not "have an impact on the rights and freedoms of end-users". That is to say, as always, it's not the words that count, but the interpretation of them.
French publishing rights society Sacem promptly issued a statement saying it had been reassured that the 'internet and creation' laws were safe, despite the new European rules. It said: "Sacem is satisfied with this statement that once again expresses the government's firm will to defend creators' rights and see the law on 'creation and the internet' adopted as soon as possible. The stakes are decisive both for creation and for the remuneration of authors, composers and music publishers. This is also true for the entire music business, in a context that is particularly difficult and threatening for the future of culture in our country".