France’s National Assembly adopts three strikes bill

The second version of France’s Hadopi bill, that is designed to fight piracy by swiftly sanctioning file-sharers, has been approved by the National Assemby in a 285-225 vote.

The first version, that was passed earlier this year, was deemed unconstitutional by France’s Constitutional Council. The Council ruled that disconnecting people from the Internet was too harsh a sentence to be passed by an administrative authority. Instead, a judge should preside over these sanctions.

Consequently, Hadopi was amended to answer to the Council’s criticism and now includes supervision by a judge. A swift procedure has been designed that allows the judge to disconnect repeating file sharers from the Internet for a period of one year.

Now that both the Senate and the National Assembly have approved the bill, it is on the verge of being officially adopted. Only one step has to be taken. A committee that bridges the two houses of parliament also need to pass the bill before it becomes a law.

The new law is not without criticism. Digital rights group La Quadrature du Net argued that the bill "fails to guarantee the right to a fair trial. It does not include any contradictory debate or public hearing; the ruling is made without any prior judicial investigation."