First victim of French 3 strikes law is found guilty for negligence

By EDRi · September 26, 2012

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [Erstes Opfer des Three-Strikes-Gesetzes in Frankreich | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_10.18_Erstes_Opfer_des_Three-Strikes-Gesetzes_in_Frankreich?pk_campaign=twun&pk_kwd=20121008]

After almost two years since the 3-strikes law has entered into force in
France, the first Internet user was sentenced by the court to a 150 euro
fine for negligence for not using the Internet access security measures
and because the user has innocently confessed it.

Since October 2010, about 3 million French IP addresses have been
identified by rightholders of being possible infringers. Out of these,
Hadopi considered 1.15 million worthy of a “first strike” notice, about
102 000 of a second warning, and only 340 of a third warning. Only 14
cases were sent to court, so far.

This is the first fine applied for the Hadopi law because the
infringement must be proven and this is not easy to do. In order to be
punished for negligence, one has to have failed to apply security means
to his Internet connection or to have not used accordingly these means,
both being rather difficult to prove.

However, this particular Internet user gave himself up by admitting that
he had not used any security means to prevent access to his Internet
account.

By trying to defend himself, the Internet user summoned by the court for
repeated infringements, gave the court the motives to condemn him for
negligence. He argued he was himself unable to download material from
the Internet and blamed his wife (with whom he is under divorce
procedures) for having illegally downloaded material from the Internet.

The woman confirmed she had downloaded Rhianna songs. “By saying he knew
she was downloading infringing content, but didn’t prevent her from
doing so, he self-incriminated,” explained Guillaume Champeau of Numerama.

So, although actually innocent, the man is now to pay for being
responsible for the downloading, because he did not prevent it.

Hadopi: one first condemned person, by ingenuity (only in French,
13.09.2012)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/23715-hadopi-un-premier-condamne-par-naiumlvete.html

Hadopi confirms that the first condemned betrayed himself (only in
French, 13.09.2012)
http://www.numerama.com/magazine/23718-la-hadopi-confirme-que-son-1er-condamne-s-est-lui-meme-trahi.html

French 3 Strikes: Court Fines First File-Sharer, Even Though He’s
Innocent (13.09.2012)
http://torrentfreak.com/french-3-strikes-court-fines-first-file-sharer-even-though-hes-innocent-120813/