Rock de Jailhouse?
Our sysadmin Greg, who is French, sent us an article from Le Monde in a mail entitled “AllPeers illégal en France ?” Later in the day, Daniel Glazman gave me a heads up about the same issue. The article brings us the latest and greatest from the French National Assembly’s debate on revisions to their copyright law. I should probably be following this more closely since the action is apparently intense, in that “chaque article, chaque amendement a donné lieu à de longs débats sous l’oeil des internautes et des auteurs” (”every article and every amendment has given rise to long debates under close scrutiny from copyright holders and internet users”).
The article goes on to explain that “le fait d’éditer et de mettre ’sciemment’ à disposition du public un logiciel permettant le téléchargement illégal ‘d’œuvres ou d’objets protégés’ est passible de trois ans d’emprisonnement et 300 000 d’euros d’amende” (”publishing and ‘knowingly’ making available to the public software that enables the illegal downloading of ‘protected works or objects’ is punishable by three years imprisonment and a fine of 300,000 euros”).
My reaction was predictably sanguine. I still don’t believe that anything we’re doing could be construed as illegal. Legislation of this type, in the same way as recent American judicial decisions, is clearly intended to sanction software that is explicitly designed to assist in the illegal transfer of copyrighted works. In fact, the discussion of the amendment in question actually makes reference to MGM vs. Grokster:
Le 27 juin 2005, dans un litige qui opposait les éditeurs de logiciels de peer-to-peer Grokster et StreamCast aux studios Metro-Godwyn-Mayer (MGM), les neuf juges de la Cour suprême des Etats-Unis ont reconnu à l’unanimité la responsabilité de Grokster et Streamcast pour trois motifs : ils encourageaient les utilisateurs à violer le droit d’auteur, n’avaient pas mis en place de dispositif destiné à réduire la réalisation d’actes de contrefaçon, et tiraient un avantage financier de ces contrefaçons.
(”On June 27, 2005, in a case that pitted the vendors of P2P software Grokster and Streamcast against MGM studios, the nine judges of the Supreme Court unanimously recognized the culpability of Grokster and Streamcast for three reasons: they encouraged users to violate copyrights, they did not put into place mechanisms designed to reduce the prevalence of acts of copyright violation and they profited financially from these acts.”)
Needless to say, none of these three points applies to AllPeers.
It’s worth mention that Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe, has been doing an outstanding job chronicling this drama as it unfolds, and he’s apoplectic about the latest developments. I don’t think either of us needs to worry about incarceration just yet. This isn’t to say that the insanely broad and ambiguous wording of the law is a good thing, but sometimes this can constitute a protection in and of itself. They will never be allowed to apply the law broadly since the consequences would be so manifestly absurd.
That said, let me say just in case that, for any Peer Pressure reader who might want to visit me in French jail: I really prefer pains au chocolat, but I could make do with a chausson aux pommes in a pinch.
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quick! release source code before you will get shot for treachery of state!
Comment by GG — 3/17/2006 @ 7:03 pm
this is the DADVSI law they are creating saying us it is to protect copyright rights, which is in fact a direct attack to open source . Everybody here in france has forget about the patent they tried (and failed) to impose 6 months ago, eveybody has forget mister Bill Gates himself coming over here to have a private meeting with our “gouvernement” 3 months later, and now see what they doing : They force people to use and buy stuff where DRM *must* be inside.
I know a lot of french developpers (and I am one of them) wondering if they got to run away the country as soon as possible, or if there is still hope to remove definitly this crazy law.
Insane !
Comment by Laurent — 3/17/2006 @ 7:26 pm
GG: Source code to what, this blog? how can anyone supply source code to vapourware?
Comment by pd — 3/20/2006 @ 2:25 pm
pd: lols this blog source code is wordpress its already avaible.
Well I don’t know if AllPeers is vaporware or not, It seemed like sweet idea behind it so I hope it’s not and I will root for this software untill it will be proven in one way or other.
Comment by GG — 3/20/2006 @ 4:54 pm