[pp.int.general] French 'hadopi' law deemed unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council

[Valentin Villenave]

Greetings,

the French Constitutional Council, that has to approve any new law
before it gets applied, has severely criticized the
punishment-on-accusation 'hadopi' law, that allowed the Majors to cut
the Internet connection of whomever they might suspect.

Amongst the reasons they gave, one can read:
"Since the Internet is a part of the freedom of speech and trade",

"Since French laws demand that anyone is innocent until proven guilty"

"Any sanction has to be declared by a court of justice, when an act of
illegal downloading has been demonstrated".

As a result, they demanded that the "H.A.D.O.P.I." committee only
sends warnings, and have no possibility of actually condemning
Internet users.

The only thing our minister Christine Albanel found to say was that
she was happy that the Council has approved the essential meaning of
her law. Duh.

(I do realize this is awfully translated and poorly worded, but I
thought I'd let you know about that in a hurry -- there are none
English articles about it yet.)

Regards,
Valentin