The “Creation and Internet” bill establishes a mechanism to combat illegal downloading. It was adopted by the Senate on October 30, 2008, but was later rejected by the National Assembly in April 2009. The government therefore revised the content of this law, to present it for a second vote in June 2009. However, the opposition prevailed with 800 votes. On one side, there are those “for”, who want to limit illegal downloading, and on the other, those “against” who denounce the deprivation of liberty. Regardless, the fate of the Hadopi law will be decided in the fall.
Hadopi, what is it?
The High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi) is an independent administrative authority, which will be responsible for warning and penalizing internet users guilty of illegal downloading. Specifically, when Hadopi detects illegal downloading, it will first warn the internet user by sending them an email asking them not to repeat the offense. In the event of a repeat offense, a registered letter will be sent to the “pirate”. Another act of wild downloading? This time, the offender could see their internet subscription cut off for a period of two months to one year. With these measures, the government aims to reduce piracy on the Internet by 70%.
The people of Nice are skeptical
In Nice, as on most internet blogs, internet users are fighting back. Julien, a 23-year-old confident blogger, shares his opinion on the Hadopi law: “I think this law is useless, except to demonstrate the current government’s inefficacy in mastering the subject. They could modify this law by including in internet subscriptions a possibility to download multimedia content. And for what reason are they trying to legislate? Only in the interest of record labels or big producers.”
A non-applicable law
On its part, the European Parliament expressed its opposition to this bill by adopting the Bono amendment, a text protecting everyone’s access to the Internet, by 481 votes against 25 and 21 abstentions on May 6, 2009. This amendment stipulates that the fundamental rights of internet users cannot be restricted “without prior decision by the judicial authorities”. Charles-Henri, a 26-year-old internet user from Nice, strongly supports this decision. “The Hadopi law will become obsolete very quickly, moreover, this approach forces the law on people and is contrary to European laws”. For this internet user, internet piracy is very easy, it is enough to use the Internet Protocol (IP) address of an internet user, and download without worrying about being caught red-handed. There are certain download sites, like “BitTorrent” which offer to download games, legally, as they are financed by ads. The site Deezer is also included, but it only concerns the playing of songs or albums. CDs are sold too expensive in stores, “prices go up to 15, even 20 euros!”. Most people who buy CDs do it only to listen to two, maybe three hits from the album. From then on, they see no point in buying CDs, especially if they can download the albums for free on the Internet. This same principle also concerns movies, several websites offer to watch the latest “box-office” hits at home, for free. Additionally, there is the phenomenon of rebroadcasting shows or movies, a gesture that some French television channels are implementing. Finally, concludes Charles-Henri, “this law will prove to be a failure and will show us that the record and film houses have not won this senseless struggle.”
Internet users are outraged and express their opinions on various anti-Hadopi blogs. Indeed for them, Hadopi promises very dark hours not only for the Internet, but also for free software, the cultural knowledge of the youth, and for democracy.
