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"We've mentioned on numerous occasions the fact that EU's directives pertaining the three strikes law as an anti-piracy measure (i.e., kicking file sharers off the internet after a couple of warnings) were always clearly against the introduction of such a law. \nSome European countries, however, have all but succumbed to the pressure of the media industry; France, in particular, has gone the farthest, since the three strikes law was approved there by the French National Assembly with the support of the president Nicolas Sarkozy.  \nNow, however, this measure has been dealt a blow by the French Constitutional Council (highest legal authority in France), which rejected the idea that some newly created agency can have the authority to disconnect a user from the net. The Council said that free access to the internet was a human right, and only a judge should have the power to disconnect someone. \nThis is a very important point. It's not just a matter of dealing with piracy; it's a matter of how you're going to do it. This particular \"criminal activity\" - piracy - is getting special treatment for no good reason. The large industries which think they're hurt financially by piracy (or, perhaps, they just say that) are putting the pressure on governments, other corporations (ISPs) are supposed to be upholding this law, and it should all be regulated by a new agency created by the government. Why? Since when is it OK to take away basic human rights from people because a large corporation said so? If it ever comes to these extreme measures; if a person really should be disconnected from the Internet (which, in my opinion, should happen extremely rarely or never), then this verdict should definitely be given by a judge. \nOf course, given how vehemently France went about introducing the three strikes law, this battle is probably not over yet. But the fact that an important legal authority there has recognized net access as a basic human right is definitely a step forward in the right direction."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/06/11/france-three-strikes/>