The CEO of News Corp.'s (NWS) Fox Filmed Entertainment this week called for a U.S. "three strikes" law, similar to one just passed in France that would cut off suspected Internet pirates' Web connections and could land them in jail. Speaking at a press conference in Athens, Fox's Jim Gianopulos called internet piracy the single greatest threat facing Hollywood and said it was internet providers' responsibility to police their users for illicit activity. [...]

The MPAA has successfully shut down an entire town's municipal WiFi because a single user was found to be downloading a copyrighted movie. Rather than being embarrassed by this gross example of collective punishment (a practice outlawed in the Geneva conventions) against Coshocton, OH, the MPAA's spokeslizard took the opportunity to cry poor (even though the studios are bringing in record box-office and aftermarket receipts). [...]

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/12/mpaa-shuts-down-enti.html

A net neutrality revision has allowed European legislators to implement long-awaited reforms that will introduce a single competitive market in telecoms throughout the continent.

New, watered-down text adopted in a conciliation process speaks of the right to a "prior fair and impartial procedure" rather than a court action, as well as the presumption of innocence in cases of alleged illegal file-sharing.

At issue is the internet section of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being developed under a cloak of secrecy by dozens of countries. The leaked document is a three-page European Commission memo written by an unnamed EU official, which purports to summarizes a private briefing given in September by U.S. trade officials.

On 6 October, telecoms ministers formally rejected the parliament's key amendment - the now infamous Amendment 138.

France-France-based internet freedom pressure group La Quadrature du Net calls the compromise text "useless legalese" that essentially only restates existing rights protections and does nothing to explicitly rule out internet blocking.

at&t's top lobbyist, jim cicconi, sent a letter to all of the telecom giant's 300,000 employees on sunday, urging them to express their concerns over a net neutrality proposal under consideration by the federal communications commission. check out his letter and comments on the actuarian outpost web site.

The debate over Net neutrality has reignited as broadband service providers hit the first deadline for applying for funds as part of President Obama's economic stimulus plan. [...]

You are killing our creative industries. "Downloading costs billions," said the Sun. "MORE than 7 million Brits use illegal downloading sites that cost the economy billions of pounds, government advisers said today. Researchers found more than a million people using a download site in ONE day and estimated that in a year they would use £120bn worth of material." [...]

Now I am always suspicious of this industry, because they have produced a lot of dodgy figures over the years. I also doubt that every download is lost revenue since, for example, people who download more also buy more music. I'd like more details. [...]

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.

The European Parliament has cast its final vote in favor of an amendment that will prevent member states from implementing three-strikes laws. Disconnecting alleged file-sharers based on evidence from anti-piracy lobby groups restricts the rights and freedoms of Internet users, according to the amendment. [...]