back to article French National Front woos internet pirates

The leader of the French National Front party, Marine Le Pen, wants Hadopi scrapped and replaced with a blanket licence to compensate creative industries. The extreme right party's freetard-friendly gambit has caused the Socialists, who also oppose Hadopi, to rethink their policies. According to The New York Times, Parti …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Even people who admit to downloading unlicensed goodies support stronger enforcement penalties. Work that one out."

    Much like those who self-harm, a cry for help to attend deeper issues?

  2. Chris Miller

    Frightening scenario

    MLP beats Sarko into third place, leading to a run-off between Marine and Francois Hollande (the Socialist candidate). MLP gets the Front National vote, plus a significant chunk of the Gaullist vote, plus (maybe now) the Pirate Party vote. Can she win to become President? Discuss.

    1. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Frightening scenario

      Been there, done that. Her father vs... Chirac? Circa 2002ish.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Re: Frightening scenario

        Argh... I read MLP as my little pony... I hate ponies...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        re: been there, done that

        Not the same at all. Against Chirac there was no contest, it was a choice between moderate right & extreme right so the moderate left went for Chirac as least-worst option.

        Extreme right against against Hollande's left, there's a fair chance that the moderate right would pick MLP over Hollande, although probably not enough to let her win given that even Sarko's trailing Hollande by a record margin. Stiil, French politics are incomprehensible even to the French...

        1. Arctic fox
          Headmaster

          Re: re: been there, done that + RE "Hollande's left"

          I think it should be pointed out that Hollande is very moderate centre-left in French terms and those of the French right who can genuinely be regarded as moderate would likely vote Hollande or (even more likely) abstain in the second round if the outcome of the first were a face off between him and the National Front. Such an outcome would likely hand Hollande the presidency since a National Front candidate representing the right in the second round would deeply split the right and thoroughly unite the left behind Hollande.

  3. Frumious Bandersnatch

    Feargal Sharkey "doesn't speak for 'Loz'"

    Maybe he thinks finding a good heart these days is easy?

  4. Not Fred31
    FAIL

    <sigh>

    I wonder if I could do a pact with the devil that each time I see a sensible article by this author, I will age by 50 years. I'd live forever.

  5. heyrick Silver badge

    All you can eat

    I think a licenced approach is more useful than the current "whack-a-mole" approach, I would certainly sign up for it (though I very much doubt my favourite JAPANESE animé producers would see a single centime. The thing that concerns me is it might lead to some maxing out their line 24/7 to download everything in sight. There needs to be some sort of middle ground sorted out...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: All you can eat

      Oh and the French are one of the only European nations that actually has a j-show channel hence their Japan Expo being so damn massive and with good Japanese guests. Go figure.

      1. Daggersedge
        Happy

        Re: Re: All you can eat

        You mean Nolife? Yes, it's a great channel. It's the only channel I watch, in fact.

        The Japan Expo is a blast. I go every year to the one in Paris. With Paris only being an hour away by TGV, there probably won't be one held in Lille where I live, more's the pity. But don't forget that the Japan Expo has come to Belgium as well. You could say that the Japan expo is a francophone phenomenon, not just a French one.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: All you can eat

      Crunchyroll until said anime studios thought they could price gauge the market with anime on demand. Streight back to fansubs we go, who the hell wants awful low bitrate fake 720 streams with horrific block yellow subs now days?

      Course I still have a CR sub, and feel well within my rights to rip the horriblesubs rips of CR products they aren't allowed to show here (the price for CR doesn't vary on how many shows are aired in the UK) and if the anime studio doesn't license to CR it's their own damn fault. Statstics already show that any show with a CR sub sees almost a 60% drop in piracy, give the public what they want and shock horror they pay for it.

      Also another case in point of Andrew only opening comments where he thinks people will stroke his harbel.

      1. heyrick Silver badge

        Crunchyroll...

        I watched a weird low-budget movie on my phone a couple of weeks ago, but most stuff I look for on CR just comes back with "Sorry, can't show you this". Stupid bloody studios and stupid bloody territorial licencing. I would rejoice the day somebody realises that a server doesn't give a toss where a packet comes from and goes to, it's just a geopolitical thing, is in "take my money and STFU". But no, I'm discriminated because I live there, not there. Hello fansubs...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Japanese merch

        There is always j-list and other similar specialist importers.

  6. ratfox
    Unhappy

    Pity

    Why does the Socialist party change their mind, just because the far right agrees? They do not need to disagree on everything...

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      Re: Pity

      If MLP said that the sky was blue the Socialists would disagree, on principle.

  7. Cousteau

    Blank Media Levy

    So if the proposed blanket licence goes forwards, I presume they will repeal the blank media levy (Loi 311-01 and 311-04) that already exists in France, and which already compensates artists & producers - how many times do these people want paying for the same thing?

    1. PyLETS
      Pirate

      Re: Blank Media Levy

      Not a tax, but a sales commission if you think about it. But sales commissions make no sense in respect of sales for non legitimate purposes. So let the content industries have their sales commissions on sales of media, bandwidth and devices used to carry their content by all means, but they have to accept legitimisation of use for purpose of carrying content in exchange for accepting a share of it. And until they all do, let those who accept legitimisation have the largest shares of the revenue derived from this source.

    2. heyrick Silver badge

      Re: Blank Media Levy

      We're paying a levy on blank media in France, yet HADOPI is alive and kicking. So essentially we're being taxed for something it is unlawful to do. Funny how repealing the media levy seems to have slipped their minds.

      Bastards. And they wonder why people faire foutre their "Intellectual Property"...

  8. Graham Wilson
    Flame

    Reckon copyright holders much prefer to deal with pirates than copyright reform.

    It's a shame that copyright debates so often degenerate into a slanging match about pirates rather than a cogent argument with respect to fair and reasonable copyright reform.

    It seems to me that the Copyright Industry is deliberately keeping the battle centred around pirates, as in a cogent debate over copyright it would lose considerable ground.

    1. irish donkey
      Thumb Down

      I'm more concerned yet another vilification of the downloaders

      Pirates are no longer Robin Hoods stealing from the rich.

      Not content with stealing Cars, handbags, being Pedo's, supporting Organised Crime, child trafficking and so forth now they are also far right racists.

      We need more laws to combat this. Support ACTA or side with all of the above.

      Godwin's law alive and well on the 'El Reg'

      1. PyLETS
        WTF?

        Re: I'm more concerned yet another vilification of the downloaders

        +1 . I remember seeing a gamekeeper interviewed on the telly a while back telling us that poachers were people who beat up old grannies. Well, I guess he would, wouldn't he.

      2. P. Lee
        Pirate

        Re: I'm more concerned yet another vilification of the downloaders

        Don't forget, Pirates also steal policemen's helmets... again.

  9. Semaj
    Thumb Down

    Pathetic Socialists

    So just because they happen to agree on a point with a group they are opposed to, they changed their views? That is exactly what is wrong with politics.

  10. Turtle

    "Victimized"?

    "The Pirate Party UK was founded on similar disaffection, and feelings of victimisation and powerlessness, which far right parties have traditionally exploited."

    They feel "victimized and powerless" because... they are to be prevented from stealing other people's work? It's okay then if *I* feel "victimized" because the local bank keeps its money in a locked vault, right?

  11. PyLETS
    Pirate

    @turtle: Victimized, and Pirate Party

    Some Pirate Party supporters feel "victimized and powerless" due to this deal made in hell between mainstream politicians and big media: Mainstream politicians need big media to get their message across about non copyright issues (i.e. most of politics). Big media needs politicians to support draconian and repressive legislation (e.g. DMCA, SOPA, ACTA) and ever more lengthy copyright to protect their business model.

    Such legislation denies basic rights, e.g. by constraining software you are allowed to create, and what you are allowed to say in a paper or talk at a security conference and.promotes criminal penalties for what should be a civil dispute at public expense in defence of private interests. Google for Dimitry Sklyarov and George Hotz: when innocent people are locked up or intimidated for exercising human rights in ways which big media finds inconvenient, some of us take notice.

    Human rights trump copyrights in any democratic society, but that's not what the big media sponsored legislation opposed by pirates and anyone else concerned about democracy has in mind.

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