French politician pushing for “3-Strikes law” caught pirating…..(again)

You may remember a man by the name Nicolas Sarkozy. He is the French President whom has been extremely vocal in his support for a “3-Strikes” law in France. The first time he was first seen pushing the law, he was found to have violated the very laws he lobbied for by using a song created by MGMT at a political rally. The only problem was of course MGMT didn’t grant him permission to associate their works with his agenda. The end result — a €30,000 payment to MGMT courtesy of Mr. Copyright’s pockets.

It appears however that Nicolas “Copyright” Sarkozy is at it again. After taking another strong political stance by again lobbying for a French 3-strikes rule, Mr. Copyright himself has been found to have unlawfully reproduced 400 unauthorized copies of the 52-minute documentary ‘A visage decouvert: Nicolas Sarkozy’. The reason for the alarm? The producer of said documentary has to date shipped a mere 50 copies. Whoops! Hmmm. A politician thinking he’s above the law (or merely trying to hide his own hypocrisy)…I’m shocked.

Per Boing Boing:

The French satirical investigative journalism weekly “Le Canard Enchaîné” reveals that our holier-than-thou presidency is in fact a pirate’s lair. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, the presidential audiovisual services produced 400 unauthorized copies of the 52 minutes documentary “A visage découvert : Nicolas Sarkozy”…

It is even more appalling that we are dealing with repeat offenders : last spring, while the Hadopi law was discussed, U.S. music duo MGMT received €30,000 as a settlement for a copyright infringement by French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party who used one of its songs at a political rally without permission. Those who led the charge against Internet users are not the most respectful of copyright.

How does this make you feel? Angry at the blatant disregard politicians have for their own laws. Do you ooze anger at the obvious double standards imposed on us by those in power?

Boing Boing > Serendipity

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+1 for the consumer: France’s National Assembly says no thank you to 3-Strikes law…(for now)

In what is pleasent surprise and minor victory for consumers and internet afficienados everywhere, France’s National Assembly said a big *expletive* you and shotdown the proposed 3-Strikes law that would cut off internet access to alleged file sharers after 3 claimed violations.  Thankfully, the National Assembly has more brains than the morons in the senate that passed this terrible excuse for a law. The reason they declined to pass it?  A simple clause that stated even after being booted from the ISP service, that user would still have to pay for access to the banned network.  BS I know.  Internet rights advocates everywhere should hold off on the keg parties and raves a little while longer however as the government said it would be back next week with an updated and revised bill that should be more to the National Assemblies liking.  Well, at least it was fun to say “3-Strikes law shot down” at least once. Unfortunately, it looks as if next time we won’t be so happy.

Source: Crunch Gear