French Legal File-Sharing Proposal Moves Ahead

Friends of the Revolution

from the touche-pussycat dept

After earlier considering throwing file-sharers in jail, the French parliament voted to legalize non-commercial file-sharing in a lightly attended late-night vote that was expected to get quickly overturned. Much to the entertainment industry’s chagrin, the proposal is moving forward. The law would legalize non-commercial file-sharing in exchange for a flat monthly license fee. This whole thing appeared to start with some members of parliament basically voicing their displeasure with the entertainment industry’s apparent carte blanche when it comes to copyright legislation. It’s hard to see the plan ultimately succeeding, but it’s certainly a pretty entertaining backlash to some ridiculous proposals for copyright laws.