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HADOPI: Epic FailThe tide is turning?
PARIS (Radsoft) -- France's constitutional council ruled against an important part of Sarkozy's HADOPI today, dealing the diminutive French leader a stinging defeat. Access to the Internet is a civil right, the ruling states.
'HADOPI Unconstitutional'
According to today's ruling it is a human right to have 'free access to online public services' and only a court of law can have the right to deny an individual such access.
HADOPI was finally passed by the national assembly and senate after several unexpected twists and turns. Both Sarkozy and Carla Bruni are thought to have invested a lot of time and prestige into pushing HADOPI on the French citizenry. If the law had been accepted in its proposed form private interest groups would have been able to merely accuse Internet surfers three times of 'illegal' file sharing and have them disconnected for up to one year - all the while they would be required to continue to pay their connection fees and without the possibility to change providers.
Echo in Brussels
The issue has been hot even in the EU parliament where last week a proposal was added to the telecoms package ensuring no one could be disconnected without a court ruling.
See Also Radsoft: A French Preview Hall of Monkeys: Lady Hadopi Red Hat Diaries: K Versus the Machine Industry Watch: Hadopi: le Titanic a Coulé! The Techological: Hadopi: The Final Countdown Conseil Constitutionnel: Décision n° 2009-580 DC du 10 juin 2009
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