Three strikes law rejected by the French deputies

article updated on the score of vote on 28.04

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [3 Treffer-Gesetz von französichen Abgeordneten abgelehnt | http://www.unwatched.org/node/1370]

On 9 April 2009, the French Parliament voted against the so called Hadopi
law introducing the graduate response, against the recommendation of the
Joint Mixed Commission (CMP – Commission Mixte Paritaire). The law had been
voted by the National Assembly on 2 April, supported by CMP on 7 April and
further on voted by the Senate.

In an unexpected move, the present deputies, however, decided to reject the draft law, taking advantage of the low number of deputies left in the assembly. The vote was 21 for and 15 against, the rest of the 541 deputies being not present.

Some of the deputies voted against the text considering it to be too hard especially by the introduction by
CMP of what the opponents called the “double pain”. The text was stipulating
that the Internet users allegdly found to illegally download copyrighted
material, after receiving two warnings, would continue to pay the access
subscription while having their access cut off, for a period from two months
to one year.

“This is an extraordinary victory for the citizens. This vote proves it is
still possible to be heard. It is a fantastic example of the use of Net to
counter those who attempt to control it,” said Jérémie Zimmermann, co-fonder
and spokesman of La Quadrature du Net.

The French Government intends to reintroduce the text to the General
Assembly and the Senate. Only, it will have to change the text as it was
before being introduced to the CMP.

The Government would certainly wish to preserve the double pain measure in
order to avoid having to pay compensations to the ISPs in case of access
suspension.

In the mean time, Nicolas Sarkozy, the initiator of the three strikes
measure, makes pressure to block the Bono amendment from of the Telecom
Package in the European Parliament. However, the ITRE committee in the EP
has reintroduced the amendement, thus leaving the plenary with the final
decision.

The Hadopi law will be reexamined by the French National Assembly only on 29
April probably after a final decision on Bono amendment is taken, hence
Sarkosy’s high pressure on blocking it. The new text of the draft law is
available on the National Assembly website.

The Parliament rejects the draft law on illegal downloading (only in French,
9.04.2009)
http://www.laquadrature.net/fr/hadopi-rejetee-a-lassemblee

Hadopi rejected in the Assembly! (only in French, 9.04.2009)
http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2009/04/09/le-parlement-rejette-le-projet-de-loi-creation-et-internet_1178838_651865.html

Downloading: the draft law rejected (only in French, 9.04.2009)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2009/04/09/01011-20090409FILWWW00451-telechargement-le-projet-de-loi-rejete.php

New Draft Hadopi Law (only in French, 20.04.2009)
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/projets/pl1618.asp

EDRI-gram: French National Assembly votes for the three strikes law
(8.04.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.7/france-adopts-3-strikes-law