Copyright Law

French Youth Make Piracy a ?National Sport?

By Jared Moya

Now boasts having one of the highest rates of software piracy in the European Union as the country’s youth challenge one another ?to crack the most elaborate software programs” and rebel against the most repressive copyright legislation in the world.

France appears be suffering from a delicious bit of irony these days with news that piracy in some areas of the country is almost double the rate of other members of the European Union. For after having formally passed the controversial “Creation and Internet? law last September the country has been on the fast track to give authorities the power to disconnect illegal file-sharers from the Internet, and would seem an unlikely place for piracy levels to be highest.

According to The Times Online, as much as 49% of software programs are pirated in France, as compared to 26% in Britain, and only 27% in Germany. .

French internet company CeriseClub said illegal file-sharing had become a “national sport” as the country’s youth sought to rebel against the most repressive copyright legislation in the world.

?The French take a sly pleasure in getting round all the systems put in place, and it?s very difficult to persuade them to do otherwise,” it says.

One student noted that “you don?t need to be a genius” to find pirated software, and that local students routinely challenge one other ?to crack the most elaborate software programs.”

“It?s their favorite sport,” he added.

Though implementation of the law has been delayed until April, it seems to have already created a mindset in French youth that illegal file-sharing is a new form of prohibition with taboos that are sure to entice people to circumvent the law.

As most already know there are dozens of ways to circumvent any anti-P2P methods, and the French govt, despite its best efforts, will soon find this out for itself if it hasn’t already.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on March 02, 2010 (boomark / email).