p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- “It has been extraordinary to see the change of attitude to this problem, not only among governments but also within our own creative industries. Barely two years ago Internet piracy was something that seemed to many beyond regulation. Today, the mindset couldn’t be more different.” John Kennedy, general factotum for Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music’s IFPI.

“We should be careful about interfering with the freedom of exchange of information. “This is a constitutional right which no one should be barred from.” Wolfgang Zankl, professor at the University of Vienna and president of the European Center for E-Commerce.

Both statements come in an Associated Press story on the efforts of French president Nicola Sarkozy to turn the clock back to the days before the French Revolution with himself as absolute monarch, Hollywood and the Big 4 music labels the powers behind his throne, French citizens as vassals, and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy suggesting they eat cake.

He’s close to honouring his commitment to Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music, and Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney to, “punish digital pirates with the possible suspension of their Internet connections, a little more than a month after the same body had rejected the proposal in a surprise vote,” as the New York Times put it recently.

And French entertainment industry minister Christine Albanel, “foresees cutting 1,000 Internet connections every day and sending 13,000 warnings to first- or second-time offenders,” says AP.

But, “Once a new European Parliament is seated, in July at the earliest, one of its tasks will be to take up a package of telecommunications’ reforms,” it says, going on:

“The EU assembly already threw out a compromise this year reached with governments that would have allowed France to implement its law.

“At that point, lawmakers reinstated an earlier demand that “no restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of … users, without prior ruling by judicial authorities.” That debate is sure to come up again in the next EU parliament session.”

It’s staggering that governments are allowing themselves to be dictated to by a group of venal corporations run by a small band of  CEOs who answer only to their shareholders.

But this is the 21st digital century.

The cartels would have gotten away with it before the Net gave people around the world a united voice which, for the first time in history, is powerful enough to force politicians and captains of industry to pay serious attention.

Now two questions remain:

• When will French citizens let Sarkozy know he answers to them,  not Hollywood or Big Music? – and,
• How will they do it?

Stay tuned.

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Associated Press – New French law on Internet piracy meets skepticism, May 21, 2009
honouring his commitment – Will France toe the corporate line?, May 13, 2009
New York Times -  France Approves Crackdown on Internet Piracy, May 12, 2009