Today is a great victory for the individual citizen. The Telecoms Package, a gigantic bill going through European Parliament, has been modified to remove a three strikes clause, which, if it had been passed, would have made various copyright holders judge, jury, and executioner by forcing service providers to disconnect customers who have been accused of copyright infringement three times. Thankfully, the Members of European Parliament (MEPs) took the side of the citizens: 88% of MEPs voted that it is “illegal to disconnect Internet users without direct judicial oversight of the process.”
It needs to be firmly established worldwide that one’s internet connection cannot just be taken away on a whim as the internet is not some pool we jump into when we seek leisure. The internet is used in everything from commerce to education, and denying someone the ability to take advantage of these tools is a very serious move. Copyright infringement suits are already a sort of witch hunt, and to give the witch hunters such real power would be a huge mistake. And yet somehow France is still considering their own three strikes law. It really does boggle the mind.
