EU Parliament rejects file sharing ban
11 Apr 2008 | 08:39 BST
Three strikes and you're not out
THE EU PARLIAMENT narrowly threw out a vote that would have banned file sharing by private individuals and decided against banning copyright abusers from the Internet.
314 Members of the European Parliament voted for an amendment that killed off a bill that would have protected copyright over the Internet. 297 voted against the amendment.
A European Parliament spokeswoman told Information World that MEPs wanted to strike a balance between the rights of rights holders and those of consumers.
The move has been at the instigation of France, which already has similar laws in place. It wanted to have a three strikes law which means that offenders lose the right to an Internet account after being caught sharing copyright-protected music over the Internet for a third time.
It is expected to take advantage of its coming presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year to have another crack at creating the law.
Many observers, including the UK-based Open Rights Group, expect it to push for EU-wide rules similar to its own. µ
L'Inq
Infoworld
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