European Amendment to Stop P2P Disconnections

posted by DrewWilson in file sharing // 150 days 15 hours 17 minutes ago

There were tense moments in Europe regarding ISPs disconnecting users for filesharing. Now, making a three strike and your out rule mandatory throughout Europe was recently struck down and replaced with an amendment that could bar ISPs from disconnecting p2p users from the internet.

Back in January, ZeroPaid reported on the European Union proposing that ISPs should fight copyright infringement. Other news at the time indicated that ISPs from countries like Britain and France would ban users for filesharing from the internet.

Now, the EFF points to a new development that indicates that there is movement to reverse such actions. From the EFF:

Now the tables have turned - and the same report has become a strong demonstration of the deep discontent in the heart of Brussels with how far the entertainment industry wants to impose its policies on the European Internet.

On Wednesday, the Bono report goes to a final parliamentary vote. The pro-blocking amendments are gone, thanks to your calls and protests. In their place, a new amendment has been proposed by young Swedish MEP Christofer Fjellner and the former Prime Minister of France, Michel Rocard, condemning any measure taken by the EU or nation states

Nearly 11,000 people have signed the EFF and Open Rights Group backed petition that urges the European Union to make copyright reflect the needs of all stakeholders including consumers.

The new amendment says that the law needs "to avoid the adoption of measures running counter to human rights, civic rights and the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and deterrent effect, such as interruption of access to the internet."

Karl Sigfrid, member of the Swedish Parliament, commented on the issue in his blog, "the Swedish government rejected the French model, but if France gets its way Sweden could be forced to implement these laws against the will of the parliament. It’s therefore of great significance that my party colleague Christofer Fjellner has tabled a proposal to stop Sarkozy’s internet ban and preserve file sharers’ online integrity."

"The European Parliament votes on the proposal on April 9, which is this Wednesday. The decision will not be legally binding, but is important for positioning purposes." Sigfrid added.