Web 3.14

Net monitoring by private companies, content filtering and internet access disconnection without a trial, extension of the powers of the media surveillance administration (CSA) to the Internet, administrative labelling of websites in France...

Squaring the net was launched by concerned citizens to alert on government projects that threaten civil liberties and economic and social development, and make alternative proposals. Join us!

Quote of the day

"Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise that the Internet is a vast platform for cultural expression, access to knowledge, and democratic participation in European creativity, bringing generations together through the information society; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."

— the European Parliament

Exclusive : The latest "flexible response" french law draft

Submitted by pi on 6 May, 2008 - 15:56.

Paris, May 6, 2008. La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the Net) has obtained the latest version of the French Olivennes bill about "flexible response" against internet users, which is currently being studied by the State Council. [1] Its content is further evidence for the extremism of its drafters.

Digital repression : record industry talks nonsense

Submitted by pi on 1 May, 2008 - 19:49.

Paris, April 30th, 2008. Hervé Rony, spokesperson for the SNEP (french syndicate of the record industry), declared yesterday that « it would not be acceptable » that the "flexible response" would not be examined before summer by the French Parliament. He added that it would be «  a bit late  if the Olivennes law was voted before the end of July.

La Quadrature du Net (Squaring the net) reminds the french government and SNEP that one does not make laws in a rush about such important subjects as the regulation of civil liberties on the Internet and the development of digital economy... and that « the coffers are empty » as the french president Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Specifically, the Olivennes law, through which families and companies would be banned from the Internet without any trial, was judged in contradiction with the Human Rights by the European Parliament.

Spanish internet users go to the front line

Submitted by pi on 30 April, 2008 - 18:20.

In Spain, the project of Nicolas Sarkozy to extend at European level flexible response (three strikes approach) make a noise.

The spanish press informs the public about the emergence of an international opposition. El Pais, 20minutos, and others published articles about La Quadrature du Net.

International support for La Quadrature du Net

Submitted by pi on 27 April, 2008 - 04:17.

Paris, April 28, 2008 The French organization "La Quadrature du Net" (Squaring the Net) is pleased to announce the support of 15 French, European and international organizations.These organizations join La Quadrature du Net in their fight to prevent a possible law, that would ban internet access for presumed copyright-infringing users.

They fear that france could use its upcoming presidency of the European Council to push europe towards such a directive and therefore back into a digital medieval age.

Will France Introduce the Digital Guillotine in Europe?

Submitted by pi on 23 April, 2008 - 21:13.

Ever since DADVSI, the French implementation of the European Copyright Directive, Internet users in France have faced increasingly disproportionate threats of punishment for claims of copyright infringement. The latest scheme promoted by the content industry against unauthorized sharing of music and films on Internet is called "flexible response" or "three strikes, you're dead".

Digital economy : head or tail ?

Submitted by pi on 20 April, 2008 - 20:31.

After studying the votes of the french MEPs, Squaring the Net analyzed the vote of the April 10, 2008 by country, crossed with the NRI index. It is obvious that the french graduated response project, initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy, was rejected by the countries the most able to adapt to the digital economy.

Banning people from printing books

Submitted by pi on 15 April, 2008 - 02:19.

"It's a breach of our civil liberties, when government limits access to the Internet it's like limiting freedom of speech. It's like banning people from printing books."

— Christofer Fjellner, Swedish legislator in the European Parliament who sponsored the banning of the "graduated response" in an adopted amendment.

European Parliament rejects graduated response

Submitted by pi on 10 April, 2008 - 12:45.

Paris, Thursday, April 10. The European Parliament adopted a resolution this morning which commits the member states - therefore France - "to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."[1] This vote proves that the system of graduated response that Nicolas Sarkozy wants France to adopt quickly and to extend to Europe during the French Presidency of the EU, is seen as contrary to human rights by a majority of MEPs.

Squaring the Net in Washington Internet Daily

Submitted by pi on 1 April, 2008 - 02:46.

Reproduced by permission of Warren Communications News, Inc., 800-771-9202, www.warren-news.com

A new French citizens' lobbying group wants public debate on Internet-related regulation affecting human rights and freedoms, one of its organizers told us Friday. "Squaring the Net" (La quadrature du net) hopes to help spur a "societal movement which we feel is ready to develop," said Philippe Aigrain, director of the Society for Public Information Spaces.

No internet hunt by private companies in Italy

Submitted by pi on 31 March, 2008 - 18:22.

The Italian authority for protection of personal data stated in a press release dated March 13, 2008, that private companies could not legally monitor peer to peer traffic to identify and prosecute users of these networks.

This position of the Italian follows the Peppermint case in which a German company had commissioned a Swiss company in order to raise the IPs of people making available copyrighted works on which it was the right holder.

A swedish ISP refuses to filter the Pirate Bay

Submitted by pi on 30 March, 2008 - 04:50.

The largest provider of Sweden has refused to comply to a request by the IFPI (International Federation of Phonographic Industry) asking it to filter access to the torrent site The Pirate Bay.It should be recalled that the IFPI has launched a campaign some time ago to require Internet providers to filter access to P2P sites. This campaign successfully obtained a court order requiring TELE2 to block access to the famous site which features a pirate galleon as its emblem.

Squaring the Net : the debate is open.

Submitted by pi on 27 March, 2008 - 19:52.

Permanent link: http://www.laquadrature.net/the-debate-is-open

Paris, March 26, 2008. While the Olivennes bill [0] aimed at building the "graduated response" must be voted before the summer in France, a group of citizens launched "Squaring the Net" to alert on this and other equally disturbing governmental projects, and to make alternative proposals.

Since the beginning of the year, the french government has announced various projects relating to Internet:

Squaring the Net, op-ed by Christophe Espern

Submitted by pi on 24 March, 2008 - 18:46.

The French parliament will soon debate a draft law "about the High Authority for the dissemination of works and protection of the rights on the internet". The project incorporates the recommendations made by the then CEO of FNAC (biggest CD and DVD retail stores in France), Denis Olivennes. One of the key measures is to sanction a violation of copyright by cutting access to the Internet.