Press review
The press review catalogues press articles related to la Quadrature's issues, compiled by its volunteers.
See also our French press review.
[EUobserver] Netherlands looking to French-style crack-down on internet piracy
UOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - In the wake of France's imposition of its controversial three-strikes legislation aiming to crush internet piracy, the Dutch parliament has called on the government to also deal harshly with offenders. [...]
"Governments must realise that the cost of repression exceeds by far the benefits and most of the time harms civil liberties," Jeremie Zimmerman of La Quadrature du Net, an internet freedom pressure group, told EUobserver in reaction to the release of the report.
"File-sharing is unstoppable anyway. The real question will be about how to use it to find new ways of funding creation. All conservative and repressive measures are bound to fail."
[NetzPolitik.org] The Dawning of Internet Censorship in Germany
Germany is on the verge of censoring its Internet: The government – a grand coalition between the German social democrats and conservative party – seems united in its decision: On Thursday the parliament is to vote on the erection of an internet censorship architecture. [...]
The net community did not only oppose the governments plans, but also made constructive suggestions how to deal with the problem of child pornography without introducing a censorship architecture and circumcising constitutional freedoms.
http://netzpolitik.org/2009/the-dawning-of-internet-censorship-in-germany/
[BoingBoing] Post one of Australia's banned links, get fined AU$11,000/day
Alys sez, "The Australian communications regulator is going to fine those who link to sites that are listed on their blacklist. It threatened an online forum with an $11,000/day fine over a link posted to an anti-abortion website that was on the blacklist. To add insult to injury, several pages of Wikileaks have also ended up on their blacklist, due to their posting of the Danish list of banned websites."
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/15/post-one-of-australi.html
[PenneDigitali] L’accesso alla Rete è diritto inviolabile
Finalmente una buona notizia: La Corte Costituzionale francese rimanda al mittente la legge per la diffusione e la protezione della creazione su Internet, perchè non conforme ai principi costituzionali. Le Conceil ha invocato l’articolo 11 della Dichiarazione dei Diritti dell’Uomo e del Cittadino del 1789.
Esultano le associazioni francesi che si erano immediatamente mobilitate contro questa legge: “E’ una grande vittoria dei cittadini che hanno dimostrato di poter lavorare insieme per tutelare la loro libertà” dicono da La Quadrature du Net. “La Costituzione ci protegge” ha dichiarato uno dei fondatori, Philippe Aigrain.
http://pennedigitali.libero.it/2009/laccesso-alla-rete-e-diritto-inviola...
[taz.de] "Übrig bleibt riesige Spam-Maschine"
Frankreichs Verfassungsgericht kassiert ein umstrittenes Gesetz, das Filesharern den Internetzugang kappen sollte. Online-Aktivist Jeremie Zimmermann spricht im taz-Interview über das Urteil. [...]
Herr Zimmermann, das französische Verfassungsgericht hat am Mittwoch seine Entscheidung zum "Three Strikes"-Gesetz mitgeteilt, mit dem die Regierung Sarkozy versucht hat, radikal gegen Tauschbörsennutzer im Internet vorzugehen. Was kam dabei heraus?
Jeremie Zimmermann: Die Entscheidung des Gerichts entfernt aus dem "HADOPI" genannten Gesetz alle Bestrafungsvollmachten, die die extra dafür geschaffene Kontrollbehörde bislang hatte. Das heißt im Klartext, dass die Behörde zwar Beschwerden von der Unterhaltungsindustrie gegen mutmaßliche Dateitauschbörsennutzer erhält und diese dann per E-Mail an sie weitersenden muss, dann aber nichts weiter tun kann. [...]
http://www.taz.de/1/politik/schwerpunkt-ueberwachung/artikel/1/uebrig-bl...
[WSJ] Sarkozy's Web-Piracy Fight Dealt Blow
France's highest legal authority struck down a key provision of a controversial law that would have cut off Internet access to people who repeatedly download copyrighted content illegally.
The decision is a setback for President Nicolas Sarkozy, who argued that the law was crucial to protecting artistic creation in the digital era. It was a victory for activists and Socialist politicians who bitterly opposed the law as an invasion of privacy. [...]
Jérémie Zimmerman, an activist who had opposed the law, called the decision "a great victory for citizens" and said that without the provision cutting off Internet access, the law was just a "big tax-sponsored spam machine."
[Timesonline] Top French court rips heart out of Sarkozy internet law
France's highest court has inflicted an embarrassing blow to President Sarkozy by cutting the heart out of a law that was supposed to put France in the forefront of the fight against piracy on the internet.
The Constitutional Council declared access to the internet to be a basic human right, directly opposing the key points of Mr Sarkozy's law, passed in April, which created the first internet police agency in the democratic world.
The strongly-worded decision means that Mr Sarkozy's scheme has backfired and inadvertently boosted those who defend the free-for-all culture of the web.
Les sages – the wise men – as the council is known, took the teeth out of the law. They ruled that "free access to public communication services online" is a right laid down in the Declaration of Human Rights, which is in the preamble to the French constitution. It also said the law breached privacy by enabling the HADOPI agency to track people's internet activity.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6478542...
[LaStampa.it] Philippe Aigrain: "Internet libero, un boomerang per i censori. La Costituzione ci protegge"
Philippe Aigrain, professore di informatica a Parigi ed ex responsabile del settore tecnologie del software alla Commissione europea, autore di «Causa Comune: l'informazione tra bene comune e proprietà» e «Internet e Creazione: come riconoscere gli scambi su Internet e remunerarli», le cui idee sono diventate emblematiche per i militanti - non solo in Francia - della libertà di espressione su Internet, per festeggiare la sconfitta della legge Hadopi ha passato la giornata ieri a inviare messaggi di gioia a tutto il mondo. Ovviamente in Rete, via mail, ma anche sul sito del suo collettivo «La Quadrature du Net» (www.laquadrature.net).
http://www.lastampa.it/_web/CMSTP/tmplrubriche/giornalisti/grubrica.asp?...
[ISPReview] French Court Deals Blow to Three-Strikes Anti-Piracy Measures
The French proposed "Three-Strikes" initiative (HADOPI), which would have seen illegal broadband file-sharers being disconnected from their ISP for repeat activity following a warning, has been dealt a serious blow by the highest jurisdiction in France - The Constitutionnal Council. [...]
La Quadrature du Net's Jérémie Zimmermann said: "This is a great victory for citizens who proved they can altogether act to protect their Freedom. HADOPI's 'three strikes' is finally buried. All we have now is a big tax-sponsored spam machine for the entertainment industries. But this is not the end of Sarkozy's will to control the Internet. The next law, LOPPSI, is already on tracks and will be about filtering the content on the Internet. Citizens must celebrate this great victory but remain watchful..."
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2009/06/11/french-court-deals-blow-to-t...
[NYTimes] French Council Defangs Plan to Crack Down on Internet Piracy
PARIS — The highest constitutional body in France on Wednesday defanged the government’s plan to cut off the Internet connections of digital pirates, saying the authorities had no right to do so without obtaining court approval.
The decision, by the Constitutional Council, which reviews legislation approved by Parliament before it goes into effect, is a major setback for the music and movie industries, which had praised the French law as a model solution to the problem of illegal file-sharing.
The council rejected the core portion of the measure, [...]
“All we have now is a big tax-sponsored spam machine for the entertainment industries,” said Jérémie Zimmermann, director of La Quadrature du Net, a Paris-based group that has campaigned against the measure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/technology/internet/11net.html?_r=1&re...
