It was less easy to find links in English, but I finally could find some :
http://www.laquadrature.net/en/search/node/hadopi
More links here :
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=Hadopi+project&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
It concerns the Hadopi project against illegal downloads the French government wants to adopt and who's a serious menace to human rights, by the fact that that the graduated response can be applied without passing by juridical court and so, you lose the right to defend yourself even if you're actually innocent by the fact that you only downloaded only LEGAL contents by p2p (such as the latest Ubuntu Linux release, or open music from websites such as Jamendo). And as if it isn't enough, they also want to make a whitelist of approved websites, and as we know, the government is ignorant towards the Net and so, the access to free software websites is uncertain (when we think that some Republican guys are so brainwashed that they consider free software as satanic and consider copyright as the ultimate God... this is creepy)... doesn't it remember China's policy ? And to get some chances to be able to defend themselves, people will be forced to install a security kit for which there is 95% of chances that it will be compatible only with Windows Vista and 7 (so, exit Linux, Mac and Co).
When your freedom of OS and software choices and your fundamental rights are uncertain, because of recording industry giants's lobby, this is very worrying !
Yes, there is abusive download, but on the other side, it's irrational to take away freedom because of recording industry giants who didn't take Internet as opportunity on the start and who are now making a nervous poo because of their mistake while people are getting aware that the quality isn't always there and understood that Internet is an opportunity to discover new artists. In fact, what's more frustrating than paying $25 for an albums who has only just 1 good song among the 15 songs it contains... I even hear non-geek people having this frustration. And when it comes to discover music through streaming, the most known websites are having their access more and more restrained. For example, Radioblogclub isn't accessible to French people anymore, and we Canadians can't access Jiwa, and even paroles.net (a French lyrics website) had to suspend its activity, these three cases are related to the recording industry giants who see them with mad eyes because they see money losses through these websites... (while actually, they allow internet users to discover new artists...)
Even if I'm not directly concerned, by the fact that I'm Canadian, one important amount of my contacts are French and so, I support them, as I'm a Linux and free software user, and it isn't impossible that a similar project is planned by the Canadian government in the future.
