After an embarrassing legislative defeat, the French government has reintroduced its controversial three-strikes law to disconnect repeat Internet copyright infringers. As consumer groups protest, the European Parliament looks for ways to limit the entire process. […]
But the European Parliament isn’t keen on the idea, and has voted several times to basically ban such practices without judicial oversight. […]
While the politicians clash, ‘Net heads are taking action of their own. Sci-fi writer Roland Wagner, for instance, has organized his fellow scribes into a “Sci-fi against HADOPI” group, while the French Data Network organizes a May 1 protest march through the streets of Paris.
Being against HADOPI is one thing, but having a positive vision in place for the overhauling of copyright is another. Consumer groups including La Quadrature du Net and UFC Que Choisir have joined forces to launch Création Public Internet (a play on the bill’s title), a project devoted to finding new business models and thinking about the important questions of cultural creation and artist income. Yesterday, they held a meeting in a National Assembly conference room to launch their new platform and kickstart a very different sort of debate on HADOPI, copyright, and the Internet.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/france-reintroduces-three-strikes-law-as-protests-mount.ars