Copyright Law

Strike Two for EU Three Strikes Law

By DrewWilson

If the three strikes law gets blocked a third time, does that mean the law is out?

The hotly controversial “Three strikes law” as pushed by French representatives in the European Union was pushed back today. According to a report on Computing.co.uk, the law was voted down.

An amendment for the Framework Directive of the Telecoms Package was introduced and the vote was 138 yays to 48 nays. The amendment said that internet users cannot be disconnected or restricted from the internet without a court order - something that even the much despised DMCA in the United States requires.

French supporters of the three strikes proposal disagreed with the idea and wanted the ability to disconnect users in a similar fashion to the proposed “Three Accusations” law that was mulled, then dropped at the last minute in New Zealand. It was a proposal that mobilized hundreds of protesters for the “internet blackout” protest where websites throughout New Zealand blacked out all of their icons to represent a realized fear that the copyright laws would be a censorship tool. The protest has since expanded worldwide.

The three strikes law has already been experiencing problems on the home soil of France. Earlier this month, in a surprise twist of fate, the three strikes proposal in France was defeated due to many MPs going on vacation. South Korea wound up having the dubious honour of being the first country to adopt the three strikes legislation. Other countries are still mulling over the law.

In October last year, the European union rejected the three strikes law, it seems as though this second attempt was equally unsuccessful.

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).