Struck out! EU Parliament bows to pressure and drops 138

Which means, dear reader and viewer, that Sarkozy's three strikes programme gets a boost and those who would have other jurisdictions follow the French lead and install similar measures in the rest of the EU will feel the wind is behind them. At least for the moment...

The original Amendment 138 made it into the Telecoms Package last year when it became apparent that the content industries were pushing hard for nation states to introduce so-called '3 strikes' measures under which Internet users accused of 'illegal' file sharing or downloading could be warned, warned again and then disconnected from the Internet on the say-so of some deep packet inspection kit.

The content industries wanted to clamp down on illegal file sharing which they saw was damaging sales of music and films and 3 strikes had become their weapon of choice.

Opposition to 3 strikes turned on some obvious objections: first that it wouldn't work (users would just find ways to fool the DPI or to swap their files without using the Internet); secondly that any process would invariably be unreliable and unjust in many instances as the wrong people would be fingered; that in any case it was up to the content industries to adapt their business models, not just rely on the state to coerce their customers (what sort of business model hinges on suing your customers?); and that (in any case again) disconnection for a household is just too big a penalty: Internet access is not just an entertainment option (as some industries seem to suppose) but an increasingly important civil liberty and part of the democratic process.

The upshot was the suitably high-minded Amendment 138 to the package, which asserted the democratic value of Internet access and ring-fenced it with judicial oversight. Internet disconnection, it implied, was not like a 'pub ban' (to our non-Brit readers, bad behaviour in a bar can lead to an individual being arbitrarily barred by the landlord for a specific period) but a serious step and must be overseen by a judge.

That would have made it difficult for countries to institute conveyor-belt disconnections and still conform with European law and for that reason Amendment 138 was opposed with a vengeance by France (and more quietly by other countries, including the UK).

What happened next? The EU legislative process habitually culminates - after several stages involving Parliament, Commission and member states via 'The Council of the European Union' - in a "trialogue" between the three institutions where some good old-fashioned horse trading takes place. In this instance old nag 138 found itself down at the glue factory where its potent bits were removed and replaced with verbiage.

That new text means that member states can do what they like as long as they're not too obvious about it. If you have the strength, the new verbiage can be found here.

So game over?

I think not. In fact the opposition to '3 strikes' legislation has been so vociferous in the run-up to the passing of the Telecoms Package that it's certain to make itself known again as soon as France's HADOPI agency begins its activities in earnest.

I'm certain that its French opponents are even now gearing up to disrupt its no doubt blundering attempts to issue notices. We can expect things like black-out days, mass downloading and so on. And we'll be sure to report it.