French film-makers and science fiction writers protest new anti-P2P law

Alan sez, "Thought you'd be interested in the following two documents, which I've translated from French, concerning the debate over the anti-p2p 'Hadopi' law in France [Ed: this is the "three strikes" law that would allow copyright holders to have your network connection cut by accusing you of three infringements, without having to show any proof. The law was defeated earlier this month, but is back for another kick at the can]. I think it's pretty important to see that there are significant numbers of cultural producers opposed to the law, something of a first on this scale. The first letter is from the world of cinema, signatories include directors, producers, actors (including Catherine Deneuve!) as well as a former general executive of French anti-piracy agency, ALPA (dedicated to the film sector). The second, I think you'll be particularly interested in, as it is a collective letter of protest against Hadopi by innumerable people in the field of science-fiction"

Artists, creators, all those cultural actors without whom that word would be emptied of meaning, are being instrumentalised for the benefit of a law which, we must remind everyone, contains measures to filter the net, install spyware on individuals machines, and suspend internet connections without the involvement of a judge on the basis of IP numbers (whose lack of reliability has long been established) collected by private companies, and the extension of measures initially conceived for police anti-terrorist activity to the sharing of files between individuals.

Whilst deeply attached to copyright, which represents the sole or principal source of income for many precarious intellectual workers in our ranks, we protest against those who brandish it incessantly to justify measures which, while technically unfeasible, are certainly dangerous, and whose potential to erode our rights is only too obvious in the eyes of those of us whose daily work involves the scientific, political and social thought which is at the core of science-fiction.

Likewise, conscious of the interests and value of creative communities, we also protest against the danger that this law poses to the universe of culture distributed and shared under free licenses, which constitutes a wealth accessible to all.

The internet is not a chaos but rather a collective work, where no actor can demand a privileged position, and it is aberrant to legislate on practices born from 21st century technologies on the basis of schemas taken from 19th. Think about it.

Because the future is our trade.

Sci-fi Against Hadopi: Who Will Control the Future? (Thanks, Alan!)

[Deche April 30, 2009 10:40 AM]

Also interesting, this letter from a collective of french independent record labels (only in french, to lazy translating...) :
http://www.telerama.fr/musique/le-coup-de-gueule-des-labels-independants-francais,42300.php

They especially focus on the depreciation of music's value organized by the music industry, the disppearence of small music stores in profit of huge chains, and the highly discussable legality of Deezer, a french music streaming website, which relys on users uploading pirated music, and giving back little money to the artists (24 185 listenings = 22,85 euros.)

Some other news on this law : in the new version that is being discussed now at the parliament, there's a new appendice, the filtering of "electronic communication", meaning the duty for each internet user to control EVERYTHING going i/o, emails etc, including the ones from members of the family...
see this article (in french again, still lazy ^^) :
http://www.pcinpact.com/actu/news/50590-filtrage-email-messagerie-hadopi-communication.htm

[Anonymous April 30, 2009 2:09 PM]

Loads of New Zealand artists came out in opposition of this as well, when they tried to pass the same thing.
Google weighed in, as did a major ISP.
Viva Le France! Good luck, you'll need it.

[Anonymous April 30, 2009 3:31 PM]

Help ! Please, come to deliver us from Sarkozy the cocaine-addicted dictator.

[Anonymous April 30, 2009 3:33 PM]

the sad reality is that this law is going to be voted, and that it is globally supported by the majority of artists who have been tricked into thinking that it protects their interests, which in the long run it won't, while forgetting all civil liberties it is thrashing

[Anonymous April 30, 2009 4:31 PM]

So if we accuse the media monsters of monopoly will they be shut down without a trial?

No?

Is it because we don't bribe the government officials like they do?

[Irene Delse May 1, 2009 6:47 AM]

That insane law is coming again before the parliament on Monday, with little chance of a new repeal.

Sarkozy said himself last week, in hearing distance of a journalist, that he was hellbent on this P2P law, although it's not popular at all, even in his own party, and there are more negative advices and opinions every day. But once voted, it could act as a Trojan horse for Net filtering, and pave the way to another piece of very bad legislation: a law on terrorisme and homeland security that Sarkozy wants VERY much to pass...

Details in ths article (in French again, sorry):
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/12727-Sarkozy-en-rage-contre-le-Nouveau-Centre-et-Jean-Dionis-du-Sejour.html

Quick and dirty extract:

"'Shut up our you're politically dead!' That's what Sarkozy yelled recently at Jean Dionis du Séjour, a center-right MP [who is normally allied with Sarko], who openly spoke against the proposed Creation & Internet (also known by the acronym Hadopi) law and voted against it on April 9th. [...] Why is Sarkozy so furious this time?

The answer is in the coming legislative agenda, in particular the proposed law on Home Security [French acronym: LSI or LOPPSI], often pushed back before, which would introduce mandatory surveillance and filtering de of Internet content. Behind the front of fighting Net piracy, Sarkozy wants the Creation & Internet law (Hadopi) to act as a Trojan horse for that next law. Hadopi would oblige to install state-approved "anti piracy" security software on every computer of every home with Internet access in France. Once the P2P filter installed everywhere, the government would just have to widen, with the Home Security law, the scope of electronic surveillane to other kinds of communication: e-mail, phone..."

[Irene Delse May 1, 2009 6:50 AM]

Erm, the last 2 paragraphs of the post above should be in italics. Sorry for the html fail.

[sebaso May 12, 2009 10:00 AM]

French lawmakers approve anti-piracy Internet ban - AFP reports: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hCqkk24ddrYtQ_kdpeVzrEkWGnGw

So, let's have a silent twitter hour against the new french "3 strikes out" internet law. No tweets beetween 8 and 9 p.m. french local time today.

Paris 8.p.m - find your local time here: http://tinyurl.com/8pmparis
(San Francisco 11 a.m., New York 2 p.m.)