French ‘Guilt Upon Accusation’ Law is Dead (for real this time)
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
The Open Rights Group report that the French HADOPI is dead, saying that the Constitutional Council: “decided that presumption of innocence is more important [...] All sanctioning power (ie. disconnecting internet users) has been removed”. Mike Masnich at Techdirt reports that the Council “has gutted the law, after finding significant constitutional problems with it. The Council specifically barred the heart of the law: the cutting people off the internet part, noting: ‘communication and liberty of expression are fundamental rights that only a judge can rule on.’” This statement echoes the findings of a recent UK government report that found that 73% of UK consumers now believe that “broadband is becoming as essential a utility as electricity or water.”
The CFF consider Internet disconnection an inappropriate sanction. Due to New Zealand’s geograpical isolation the internet is a vital tool for connecting to the rest of the world, and is also becoming more pervasive with vital services moving online such as parts of government, health care (records, scheduling) and social interaction tools (newspapers, phone, email, social networks). Disconnection may hinder people’s ability to pay bills, operate their business or do their job, access banking, education, insurance, etc. Due to this the internet is already a necessary service like other utilities such as the phone and postal systems. In future years with increasing internet use disconnection will be seen as a shortsighted and increasingly unfair penalty.
As we are once again facing the possibility of Internet disconnection as the government’s chosen punishment for infringement, the CFF strongly recommend that the inventive penalty of internet disconnection be ruled out.
More news about the decision also at ArsTechnica
