France Disregards European Parliament: ‘Three Strikes” Policy Still On

Although Europen Parliament banned the highly controversial ‘three-strikes-and-you’re-out’ legislation some countries just won’t let go

The European Parliament has dismissed for good the infamous ‘three strikes’ policy of terminating the Internet connection of repeat file sharers. The votes were overwhelmingly against the proposed legislation as the European Parliament considers judicial review is in order before any ISP should have the right to cut off its customers on account of accusations of illegal file sharing.

The new resolution has refuelled optimism of many online activists with regard to the abolition of the ‘the strikes’ model in European countries where this policy was heavily supported by their governments.

However, French President Nicolas Sarkozy doesn’t seem bothered by the EU’s decision so far. On the contrary, as France's secretary of culture Christine Albanel stated, French government sticks to its own decision and pushes forward with the much debated HADOPI legislation. Albanel added in support of the same government that there is "not a single country on the world" where citizens are guaranteed access to the Internet. They do realize this has a lot to do with human rights (and those are guaranteed), don’t they?!