European Parliament allows strong anti piracy policies

European countries will not face resistance from Brussels when adopting policies that would cut off persistent file sharers from the Internet. The European Parliament has dropped an amendment to the forthcoming telecoms regulations that would make adopting such policies difficult, reports BBC News.

The current debate on terminating Internet accounts of file sharers that refuse to change their behaviour focuses on the question whether access to the Internet has become a fundamental right to European citizens. The amendment that was dropped was designed to guarantee this debated fundamental right.

The amendment read that “Any such measures liable to restrict those fundamental rights or freedoms may only be taken in exceptional circumstances (...) and shall be subject to adequate procedural safeguards in conformity with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights (…) including effective judicial protection and due process."

Dropping this amendment effectively means that member states are free to adopt policies in which people can be unplugged from the ‘Net without intervention from a court of law.

Both France and the UK have indicated to take a tough stance on illegally sharing protected content. France is ahead in implementing this policy. Last week, the constitutional court in France approved a revised edition of the Hadopi law, designed to help enforce copyright.

In the UK, official plans have yet to be launched. However, the responsible Business Secretary Peter Mandelsohn has indicated to favour a strong policy to discourage file-sharers.