/ 11 June 2009

French anti-filesharing law overturned

The French judiciary has ridden to the rescue of the country’s web users, striking down a controversial new law which would have allowed the state to cut off the internet connections of illegal filesharers for up to a year.

The ruling is a blow to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had characterised the so-called “three strikes” law as a crucial weapon in the fight against online piracy. The Hadopi law, named after the government agency which was to police the new regime, was also used by many in the content industry as an example that could be followed in the United Kingdom.

But France’s constitutional council ruled on Thursday that “free access” to online communications services is a human right and cannot be withheld without a judge’s intervention. The council also ruled that the method of policing the web envisaged in the law breaches a citizen’s right to privacy.

The news comes as the UK’s communications minister, Lord Carter, prepares to publish his final Digital Britain report next week. Carter has pledged to safeguard the UK’s creative industries against online piracy, but has long maintained that he does not see a so-called “three strikes” rule as workable.

Under the French law, which was passed last month after initial resistance from politicians, persistent illegal filesharers were to be warned by email and then letter that they should stop sharing copyrighted material. If they continued, their internet connection could be cut off for up to a year.

A similar system of warnings was introduced in the UK under a deal brokered between some of the UK’s internet service providers and the content industry last year. It has not, however, been a success and recent research has shown that only a third of internet users would actually be deterred by such a warning.

Carter’s Digital Britain report is expected to propose legislation which would codify this warning system. If people persist in illegally sharing files they would then see the speed of their internet connection reduced. Speaking last week — before he was reshuffled into the post of health secretary — the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, said the British government intended to apply such “technical measures” to crack down on persistent illegal filesharers, but would stop short of actually cutting off people’s internet connections.

The French ruling, which comes after the country’s Socialist party asked the council to look at the legality of the Hadopi law, is unlikely to have a direct impact on the legality of any UK moves to combat piracy by using technical measures because it is based on a reading of the French Constitution, rather than EU law. – guardian.co.uk