More significant than that, actually. The proposition has now been presented forthrightly in a legislative forum.
And actually, on the very occasion of what was probably a terribly critical play by the other side: they really, really needed to get that law passed the way it was originally, to really lay the groundwork for the final phases of the whole idiotic WIPO reaction to ubiquitous connectivity. That's why it was so shocking to the Culture Minister. The whole game is, really, to set the policy foundation before the issue can actually come up in venues that directly represent the public. The notion is now out there, on the legislative table. It can now only be addressed on its own terms and merits. Even if it fails for now, the historical register is right there, and can always be referred to, from here on out. Actually, the other side might be smartest to completely drop their version of the law, because they'll only be providing a forum for and credibility to our side. Seth Jean-Baptiste Soufron wrote: > > What happened is quite simple. > > The french minister of culture prepared a law to transpose the EUCD > directive 2001/29/CE about DRM. > > He was heavily lobbied by the majors in order to use this law to ban the > use of P2P on Internet. > > But the, the Association of Audionautes won several cases against the > french RIAA. Judges increasingly ruled that sharing on Internet was legal. > > In the same time, the Association of Audionautes entered the > Artists-Public Alliance where they begun to help ADAMI and SPEDIDAM (2 > associations of performers) to prepare an alternate solution to the use > of DRM and the banning of P2P. Basically, they proposed a solution based > on a tax weighing on ISP and redistributed to artists. > > Coordinating with Free Software Proponents, they begun to present their > projects to French deputies. > > When the parliament begun to study the project, it became obvious that > the project was not really consistent. Even when it had been being > prepared for 4 years, the minister of culture had to add new amendments > at the very last moment in order to create a regulation authority > authorized to pronounce fines, etc. > > He lost the confidence of its deputies, and some deputies chose to > defend the proposal of the APA and the ADA. Finally, it was passed > during the night. > > Now, the project of law is completely stuck down. It is unlikely it will > be studied again before 6 months at least. > > Of course, the two amendements will not be enforcable until the project > is finally voted in the end, but this situation will maintain the > current statut quo : judges will go on ruling that sharing files online > is legal and legitimate. > > Let me know if you want more information. > > The website of the audionautes is : http://audionautes.net/blog/ > > My own website is : http://soufron.typhon.net > > Gavin Baker wrote: > > Today, there's a story on Slashdot -- via Bloomberg and Libération -- > > saying that the French parliament has voted to consider p2p sharing of > > movies and music a private copy: in essence, legalizing filesharing. > > > > Just a few weeks ago I remember the story of a French effort underway to > > outlaw open source software. > > > > I consider it very likely that both stories lost their context when they > > made it into the English-language context I saw them in. I speak some > > French, but not enough to understand what's going on here; besides, > > knowing the language doesn't help me understand the politics. > > > > Can anyone here explain exactly what has been going on in France lately, > > who is involved, and what the public reaction across France and Europe > > has been? > > > > Gavin > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mail.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_freeculture.org > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_freeculture.org -- RIAA is the RISK! Our NET is P2P! http://www.nyfairuse.org/action/ftc DRM is Theft! We are the Stakeholders! New Yorkers for Fair Use http://www.nyfairuse.org [CC] Counter-copyright: http://realmeasures.dyndns.org/cc I reserve no rights restricting copying, modification or distribution of this incidentally recorded communication. Original authorship should be attributed reasonably, but only so far as such an expectation might hold for usual practice in ordinary social discourse to which one holds no claim of exclusive rights. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://mail.freeculture.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_freeculture.org
