France's highest legal authority has blocked the central part of a controversial internet piracy law that would deny offenders web access, in a humiliating blow for President Nicolas Sarkozy. The law, known by the acronym Hadopi, set up a new state agency with the power to cut off internet access for up to a year for people who download music and film illegally.The legislation, one of the toughest in the world to date, won final approval on May 13 after a heated battle in parliament.
The law, known by the acronym Hadopi, set up a new state agency with the power to cut off internet access for up to a year for people who download music and film illegally.
The legislation, one of the toughest in the world to date, won final approval on May 13 after a heated battle in parliament.
The French Constitutional Council has blocked the key provision of an Internet piracy law after ruling that "access to public communication services on line" was a human right, and that a only a judge could cut off an individual's Internet access. AFP - France's highest legal authority on Wednesday struck down a key provision of a contested Internet piracy law that set up a new state agency to cut off offenders from the web. The ruling is an embarrassing setback for President Nicolas Sarkozy, who championed the adoption of the tough new legislation last month. The Constitutional Council ruled that "free access to public communication services on line" was a human right, and that only a judge should have the power to strike an individual from the Internet.
AFP - France's highest legal authority on Wednesday struck down a key provision of a contested Internet piracy law that set up a new state agency to cut off offenders from the web. The ruling is an embarrassing setback for President Nicolas Sarkozy, who championed the adoption of the tough new legislation last month. The Constitutional Council ruled that "free access to public communication services on line" was a human right, and that only a judge should have the power to strike an individual from the Internet.
The point of that law is for Sarkozy to befriend artists, who had traditionally supported the left, and generate yet more infighting in the socialist party (artists are bitterly divided about this law in France).
But it is exceedingly rare for the Conseil Constitutionnel to so thoroughly contradict the government's intent - they will usually comment on very specific points, and require smallish adaptations that do not change the law's intent. In this case, it is the most important measure that has been forbidden.
Sarkozy has wasted a lot of energy and parliamentary time (he already lost a vote on this topic a few weeks ago), but he will not back down.
Pity the opposition is nowhere to be seen to take advantage, in the media, of that mess (they've down the background job of getting recourse to Conseil Constitutionnel, and fighting in parliament as procedure allows, but in the media, not so much). In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
It's impressive the amount of time and energy the right wing is able to spend on something that is of relatively minor importance. But then elections won't be lost or won on Hadopi, and it at least is useful in hiding the other doings of the governement. Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
