France - Internet piracy

Senate passes internet piracy bill

Article published on the 2009-05-13 Latest update 2009-05-13 14:42 TU

Justice Minister Rachida Dati and Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier share a private joke at the National Assembly in Paris on 12 May 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

French lawmakers passed a bill in parliament on Tuesday intended to combat internet piracy, which was then approved by the Senate on Wednesday. The National Assembly passed the new legislation by 296 votes to 233, before the Senate gave its final approval, 189 votes to 14. President Nicolas Sarkozy will now sign the bill into law.

An amended version of the bill, following the defeat of the original two weeks ago, will create a new agency called Hadopi, which will work with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

And the “three-strike” bill will give warn Internet users before cutting off their connection if they are caught pirating music or video.

A popular file sharing search engine
(Picture: PirateBay)

Offenders will, in the first instance, be sent an email as a warning, then sent a letter, and then lose their internet connection completely.

But the opposition Socialist Party is not in favour of the law, and deputy Patrick Bloche says it will create “a lose-lose situation for artists and for internet users”.

It is also clear that more determined downloaders will find ways of circumventing controls using anonymity software such as Tor.

Opponents to the law are concerned about the emphasis it would place on the monitoring of traffic by ISPs, who will have to comply with Hadopi, creating a number of privacy concerns.

Meanwhile users of the BitTorrent, file-sharing protocol, also point out that file sharing is used in many circumstances for legal sharing of copyright material.

Luc Besson and his wife at the National Assembly on 12 May 2009
(Photo: Reuters)

The bill has support from the music and film industry, including stars such as French film director Luc Besson.

But it has drawn some criticism from the EU. The European Parliament voted last week to prevent ISPs and regulators from restricting users Internet access.

The Socialist Party also intends to ask the French Constitutional Council, France’s highest authority, to rule on the legality of the bill.