Critics of government-mandated filtering schemes contend that such programs first focus on "child pornography" because it's such an unobjectionable target for censorship—but once the program is in place, it's much easier to extend it to more controversial areas, such as copyright protection. At least the French have the decency to admit that this is what's happening.

The French lower house, the National Assembly, has just passed a security bill known as LOPPSI2, [...]

THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT has buckled under pressure and approved the Sarkozy government's authoritarian plans to censor the Internet.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), suggested by the US administration in 2007, aims to redefine global trade rules. The intention is to stem losses from counterfeiting and internet-mediated piracy of content like music and movies.

It will do that by penalising internet service providers and websites that carry, or help people to find, pirated content. ACTA has quickly proved a hit with G8 nations, the European Union, South Korea and Australia, who are all using it as a basis for future national laws. [...]

Michael Geist sez,

C-27 is the Canadian anti-spam bill that comes out of committee on Monday. The opposition Liberals have proposed amendments which appear to have been drafted by copyright and telecom lobbyists. They would allow for surreptitious installation of computer programs and - even more outrageously - would allow copyright owners to secretly access information on users' computers.

Driven by increased crackdowns on BitTorrent sites such as The Pirate Bay, software pirates are fast-moving their warez to file-hosting Web sites.

Sites such as RapidShare, Megaupload, and Hotfile let anonymous users upload large files such as cracked software for free.

Hyperlinks to the software can then be distributed by pirates via Web sites, instant messages, or social media sites such as Twitter, said Vic DeMarines, vice president of products at anti-piracy software vendor V.I. Labs.

There’s a disturbing new development in Australia. A law proposal was disclosed to the public that would get ISPs to spy on the contents of all communications to monitor for compliance. Presumably, the amendments would get Australian ISPs to monitor their networks for p2p activity and hand all their information to copyright holders.

As New Zealand mulls its options for dealing with alleged pirates under its proposed Section 92A legislation, FACT, a division of the MPAA, says it’s not happy with the current proposals of giving those wrongly accused a chance to go to arbitration since it would be too time consuming.

I have very divided feelings about these very divided French initiatives. On the one hand, I rather admire this bold attempt by a national government to defend and extend its national interests on the Internet. [...]

[...] On the other hand, check out the keen way that the French are also cyber-arming themselves for the eruption of utter anarchy. Not HADOPI, but the vastly more sinister LOPPSI. Yup, French cops sneaking into your laptop. [...]

Imagine doing your democratic duty by e-mailing your member of parliament your opinions of a given issue. Now imagine that e-mail being shown to you by your boss right before you get fired from your day job. Apparently, one mans political opinion is causing a huge stir over in France right now - all over the French Three Strikes law which is currently being debated on again.

[...] In France, the Hadopi law, soon to be re-voted, would allow for a sliding scale of punishments up to and including cancellation of the internet connection.

But this contradicts the position of the European Parliament, which voted by 90 percent last September to urge member states safeguard rights and civil liberties, such as guaranteeing internet access.

(PE) ha aprobado hoy un informe que rechaza la posibilidad de que los gobiernos europeos puedan denegar el acceso a internet como un medio para imponer sanciones a los consumidores.

El texto, aprobado con 481 votos, 25 en contra y 21 abstenciones, señala que los gobiernos o las empresas privadas no deben recurrir a cortar ese acceso como forma de penalización, algo que, indica el PE, ya se ha propuesto en algunos países de la Unión.

Online content includes music, film, radio, television, newspapers, games, and educational and user-generated content, such as blogs. The European Commission estimates that by 2010 revenue from these services will soar to over €8 billion in the EU, from less than €2 billion in 2005.