p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Corporate plans to introduce an anti-P2P, anti-file share law in Europe may now be permanently buried.

With the EU parliament scheduled to vote on an EU telecom reform package, member states called for a new paragraph, “prohibiting national authorities from excluding users from the internet without a court order,” said p2pnet on Tuesday.

“This represents another telling blow to entertainment cartel efforts to muscle governments into passing laws which would compel ISPs to act as copyright cops who’d be forced to cut off internet connections for clients found ‘guilty’ of sharing corporate ‘product’ online,” our story went on.

Now, “The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected a long-planned revision of the Continent’s telecommunications laws because of a controversial provision to punish Internet pirates,” says the New York Times,  continuing:

“In Strasbourg, the Parliament’s lower house, by a vote of 404 to 56, passed an amendment to the telecommunications package making it illegal for any E.U. country to sever Internet service unless a citizen is found guilty in court, effectively blocking the broad revision.

“The amendment was intended as a rebuff to a proposal before the French National Assembly that would allow a government agency to sever Internet service based on industry complaints.

“France had lobbied heavily for the provision in the hope that the Parliament’s support would forestall legal challenges to its plan.”

Actually, France wasn’t doing the lobbying. It was the members of the corporate movie and music industries who’ve been trying, and failing, to use various national governments to further vested corporate interests.

The British government seemed to be falling in line with entertainment cartels plans to use ISPs as corporate Copyright enforcement police.

But then David Lammy, the UK minister responsible for intellectual property, “ruled out a `three strikes` law denying internet access to illegal file sharers,” saying cutting off users, was “not the right road“.

South Korea has, “apparently fallen in line with the corporate entertainment industry plan to have ISPs act as copyright cops, turning in their own customers so they can be victimised as file sharing criminals and thieves by the cartels, the scheme is for the most part coming apart at the seams with citizens making it clear they, not the movie studios and music labels, are in charge,” said p2pnet recently.

“The Big 4 are in the midst of huge international campaign in another phase of their efforts to dominate, if not totally control, the way music is distributed online, and by whom,” said another story, going on »»»

Under it, they hope to force governments to toe the corporate line by introducing legislation to compel local ISPs to both identify customers accused by the labels of being illegal distributors of copyrighted music, and to ultimately terminate their accounts.

New Zealand was the first country to officially cave in to corporate demands, but is now wavering under public pressure to abandon the plan, inspired by Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music.

France, the first country to get firmly behind the three-strikes-and-you` re-out legislation, seemed poised to adopt it, but it, too, is coming under increasing public pressure to drop the massive corporate DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control scheme.

In Britain, the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA), argues that ISPs cannot prevent illegal downloading because they `are no more able to inspect and filter every single packet passing across their network than the Post Office is able to open every envelope`,  p2pnet said recently.

We added:

The European Parliament has condemned France`s so-called HADOPI law, turning its back on every proposed amendment, rejecting the corporate music inspired `graduated response` for the third time, said La Quadrature du Net.

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p2pnet – 3-strikes plan suffers new blow, May 5, 2009
New York Times – French Anti-Piracy Proposal Undermines E.U. Telecommunications Overhaul, May 7, 2009
not the right road – UK backs out of corporate `3 strikes` law, April 29, 2009
p2pnet – RIAA supports French 3 strike move, April 9, 2009
another story – Comcast, AT&T say No! to RIAA 3-strikes plan, March 26, 2009
wavering under public pressure – New Zealand: safe from Big Music. Or is it?, March 25, 2009
increasing public pressure – French anti-file sharing law targets children, March 25, 2009
cannot prevent illegal downloading – Brits say No! to ISPs as corporate copyright cops, March 16, 2009
condemned – Europe parliament rejects French 3 strikes law, March 27, 2009
HADOPI – French `3 strikes` anti-P2P law mired, May 10, 2008
La Quadrature du Net, The European Parliament rejects graduated response for the third time, March 26, 2009
CNet News – RIAA gives thumbs up to France`s three-strike law, April 8, 2009