France approves main section of tough anti-P2P bill

France’s Assemblée Nationale has been debating a strict, government-backed graduated response bill for several weeks. As the final vote nears, the bill’s core section has been adopted and its passage looks likely.While New Zealand has decided to scrap its “graduated response” law and rewrite it from scratch, French legislators are pushing ahead to pass the Création et Internet law that would boot repeat file-sharers from the Internet for up to a year at a time. The Assemblée Nationale has just approved the main bit of the controversial bill, and full passage could come shortly.The Assemblée is working through the many articles and amendments to the proposed law at the moment, assembling a complete package that will eventually be voted on in its entirety. The key part of the bill is article 2 (Google-translated version), which creates the High Authority (La Haute Autorité) that will administer the rules and pronounce suspensions. Article 2 was today approved for inclusion in the final bill.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/france-approves-main-section-of-tough-anti-p2p-bill.arsFrench ‘three strikes’ antipiracy law passes second reading [IDG]
French Internet users who share music or videos without permission from the copyright holders are one step closer to losing their Internet access, after the French National Assembly gave its assent to the so-called Hadopi law on Thursday night. The law had its first reading in the Senate last year.Under the new law copyright holders will have the right to monitor file-sharing networks and report people they suspect of piracy to a new regulatory body, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet, known in French as the Hadopi.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/040309-french-three-strikes-antipiracy-law.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162573/.htmlFrench pass ‘three strikes’ file-sharing law
In a decision that is likely to alarm file-sharers worldwide, an almost empty French National Assembly has finally voted through its “three strikes law” designed to clamp down on file-sharing and illegal downloads.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/03/french_three_strikes/
http://out-law.com/page-9927