...and like Noah, the mythical ancient god of selective breeding, we can learn to ride the swell, wait for the ebb, and build a new and better world at the new high water mark, or we can choose to struggle impotently against the rising tide until we are crushed and drowned beneath a cascade of torrents.

'Ware the skepticism of the unicorn and the hubris of the brontosaurus. Neither beauty nor might will save you. The vision to see the oncoming flood and the industry to keep yourself afloat before it will mark the intelligently designed progenitors of the new digital age. The blind will be lost to myth, and legend, and faulty archeological dating practices. It has always been thus - since the world began, five thousand long years ago.

So fill your ark(ive) with two of every artistic temperament. The furry, the flighty, and the fishy smelling. The slothy, the shrieky, and the rage-filled poo flingers. Bring every down and out busker and overrated teen-diva you can, and join us in a wonderful new future!

That and the recent UK laws against your standard sysadmin toolkit makes me wonder how many IT folks are going to be jailed in the next 5 years or so. Seems that now any form of communication software is illegal to own, distribute or make available? Maybe they should just round up anyone with a computing device and slap them in jail as a preventative measure? After all, that horrible TCP/IP could potentially be used to share music.

Bunch of wucking fankers. the lot of them.

Try and collect a judgment .

French record labels indicate surprise when the removal of SourceForge from the planet didn't stop music piracy. Shrinking war chest funding forces them to merge with the RIAA and the few remaining record labels that are failing to deliver what their customers want to attempt to "use economics of scale" and "Harmonic Synergy" in a last ditch effort to support suing their last few customers who actually buy CDs.

I think banning the Internet in France is a GREAT idea!

Firewall them at the border. That should work.

Thanks, France, I needed the laugh!

This is the equivalent of a bank thats been robbed, suing Ford ford making the transit van. Because transit vans are commonly used for theft, and the transportation of stolen goods....

GET A GRIP YOU MUPPETS.

Sourceforge has in NO WAY been responsible for the infringement of any record labels copyright.

Where did they get these lawyers from, "IP Law for dummies...."

"Hell, the entire Internet itself could be banned in France. "

If only...

I'm sick to death of these fucktards, no matter which country they're from. Why are our governments, which are supposedly representing the people, bending over backwards to protect the media companies? I know, I know -- money, bribes, corruption...

File-sharing protocols can be used for good or for bad. And yet the governments of multiple countries (France, US, and UK, at the very least) want to make it so that the authors of file-sharing software somehow have to "filter out" copyrighted content? [side note: In my first-draft before reviewing, I wrote "yet the governments of multiple companies..." Freudian slip?]

First of all, there is literally no way to do this. Even if they had a table of md5 hashes, all people would have to do is add one byte to the end of the file, and it'll no longer match the hash. And how can the authors possibly even check each file against the billions (trillions?) of copyrighted works in existence?

But more importantly, is there ANY OTHER INDUSTRY which is held to this ridiculous idea? Do auto makers have to make sure their autos are not used for illegal purposes (speeding, reckless drivers, ignoring stop signs and stop lights, allowing drunk drivers, etc)? Do the alcohol brewers and distributors have to ensure that people don't drink too much and become abusive? Do gun makers have to find a way to make sure their weapons aren't used for illegal purposes? In all of those cases, the answer is a resounding "NO". And those are industries in which those restrictions would actually save lives. But we'll enact such ridiculous legislation on file-sharing software to protect the interests and profits of private corporations.

Like Kentucky, just cut France and her dominions off the Intertubes!

Walla!

"TorrentFreaks, which flagged the story, notes enforcing a ban on platforms that can be used to distribute unauthorized content is certainly ripe for abuse."

and reporting a story about security officials leaving laptops on trains wouldn't be authorised, would it, so that would mean any newspaper ......... oh, sorry - was that the sort of platform you meant that people should distribute stuff on - the ones at Vauxhall and Waterloo?

Shouldn't it be possible to sue the labels themselves for selling CDs that can be copied easily? Aren't they supposed to provide "a way to block the transfer of unauthorized copyright works"?

PH, because the lawmakers were obviously clueless

You can add Windows File and Printer Sharing, TCP/IP, and the whole Microsoft Windows Networking architecture to that list. Only solution - ban Windows. Er, Linux and MacOS have similar architectures as well. Ban them too. Oh, and modems and routers - these definitely facilitate copyright infringement. Yeah, ban the Internet AND all other forms of computer networking, that'll stop those pesky freetards!

Wait... Floppy disks, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs can also be used to copy stuff. So can USB sticks and external HDDs. Better ban those too, just in case.

Maybe France should simply ban computers and be done with it!

But I can't get real mad at it today for some reason. Best I can come up with is that going after P2P because it can be potentially used for doing something illegal means that you should also go after sellers of guns, knives (kitchen or other), pencils, large rocks, razors... hell, anything, as they can potentially be used as a murderous weapon.

I think the best part of this story is LimeWire and Morpheus. Has anyone used those particular programs since... 2005 or so?

Concluding comment on web browsers and mail potentially being illegal in France is stupid, as per your own above description of the law:

"enforcing a ban on platforms that CAN be used to distribute unauthorized content is certainly ripe for abuse. What else CAN be used to distribute content illegally? Oh, say, FTP, web browsers, and email. Hell, the entire Internet itself could be banned in France.."

"DADVSI copyright law, which includes an amendment barring making available software that's INTENDED to distribute unauthorized protected works."

Understood the difference?

Now we're left to see if the tribunal decides limeware is intended to distribute blablabla. And indeed, let someone try to sue browsers companies, and that day you'll see the difference between "intent" and "ability"

I really don't get this, why are they always going after the wrong target? why don't they simply order all ISPs to block the servers that participate in illegal music/movie/software distribution?

P2P is legal and is going to be the future method of distribution movies, software and patches.

any way, I stopped caring sometime ago.

I predict the return of minitel in France.

read about it in the online trivia bazaar here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel

It would be nice to just ban all communication. paper can be used to print lyrics and thus infringe on music IP rights. solution: ban paper and you also ban the lawsuits.

Still waiting for the digital revolution.

down with the bourgeois interweb

Blacklist all french ip adresses from accessing any opensource projects. Permanently.

...is a bad idea. The French will always be "The French", and I doubt that anything will change that fact. Like it or not.

Good job that ban worked too, or there would be no music left to pirate now.

Still, if they do decide to ban the internet I do still have a cassette recorder attached to my radio.

If only I had some cassettes...

>Hell, the entire Internet itself could be banned in France.

I think we should be pro-active here and just ban France from everything..

You might mock the biblical tale but if you look at it as recounting an earlier form of global warming with rising tides and whole countries disappearing under the sea then there might be a sound basis for it.

The saying that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it may also soon be true.

Where the technology is being used almost exclusively to enable users to commit copyright infringement then it should be banned.

Those responsible are the pirates and thieves who abuse potentially useful software.

Yes of course we all know there are legal uses for P2P - but if you are looking for someone to blame for clampdowns like this, blame the pirates who abuse it.

As they ban all postal services (could carry pirated disks), transport (ditto), destroy all roads ( whose main purpose is to carry aforementioned transport), including railway lines and airport runways.

Not forgetting to smash all radios (pirate radio stations).

At least then we will not have to cope with their smelly armpits!!!

I'm sick to death of the theives that refuse to pay for music.

If you like the music, stick your hand in your pocket and get some money to the guys who made it - all the way down the chain to the musos who performed. Otherwise wait for it to come on the radio - or don't listen to it. But don't come up with feeble excuses for stealing, like justifying it on record companies' over pricing (even if it's true)....

As for the law suit - well it's frivolous, stupid - BUT WILL COST THE OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITY A LOT OF CASH DEFENDING IT..... So now the open source community as well as the musicians and other workers in the music industry has to pay to support or defend the mentality of the many undesireable members of our community.

So I'd like to ask - how many music and video file sharers will stick thier hands in their pockets and hand over cash to defend Source Forge????????? Do I detect a deafening silence, broken only by the same lame putrid excuses for theft? Thought so.

Thumbs down for the court case and the theives.

...will France then sue the French postal system?

Paris because, well, even she'd realise this is a dumb piece of litigation.

"illegal means that you should also go after sellers of guns, knives (kitchen or other), pencils, large rocks, razors... hell, anything, as they can potentially be used as a murderous weapon."

And the manufacturers of the above. And any shipping company that has ever moved them, or machine tools that have supplied the manufacturer.

How about a better alternative - one in which all music is outlawed in France?

...as they can be used to share anything if your computer happens to be running, well, any version of Unix from the late 1960's onwards. Hang on, I could create a low quality MP3 on a BBC Micro and share it as a data tape to other BBC Micro owners. Or a stack of punched cards. Or a reel of punched paper tape.

Or why not just burn a CD copy? Time to ban CDs then. Take away people's cars as they can drive to a friend's house with a copy, and while you are at it chop their legs off for good measure because they could walk round instead.

Since when was there any French music worth copying in the first place?

""Hell, the entire Internet itself could be banned in France. ""

we can not let that happen world of warcraft servers and hosted in france!!!!

This is the way they do things in France. Therefore it's the right way and it's the rest of the world that's got it wrong, as usual.

Anyone who can see any flaws in this argument is, by definition, not French.

You can always spot anyone dealing with a project that involves France. They have brickwork stencilled in relief on their foreheads.

Two of France's biggest telecom operators, Orange & SFR, are pushing FTTH throughout Paris.

Not the Paris on the picture, the other one, the city, and no, it's not in Texas.

I should know, starting from Thursday, I'll be "banned from using the internet" with a 100M download and 50M upload FTTH connection.

@The Flood Is Come...

It's like they want the technology 'un-invented'. The world has changed. It was techology that created the recording industry. They were fortunate that making decent recordings was hard. Now it's a lot easier. First we copy their works, then we make our own. They can see this coming...

@Boggle

Just because you are breaking the law does not mean you WILL be arrested and gaoled. It just means you CAN be arrested and gaoled. Selective enforcement. Phorm and BT can break the law but some folk will be arrested. It all depends on who's side you're on.

@why not block the servers?

They probably will. But making P2P illegal except for corporations who pay a licence fee may offer the authorities some sort of control over the Internet. Most people's idea of freedom is free porn and free movie downloads. However an effective ban on that will have the desired effect of banning free speech. After all they are trying to get the brewers to close pubs or at least turn them into clubs where you are recorded when you enter and the music is too loud to talk. All communication needs to be monitored and we make it easy for them by doing it electronically.

"DADVSI copyright law, which includes an amendment barring making available software that's intended to distribute unauthorized protected works."

And this is were the SPPF may get hurt. In french the law states "manifestement destiné", which may be interpreted by judges as "the sole purpose of the software". This will be, I think, the main line of defence of the four companies.

I have, however, a rather bad feeling, as french justice may be sometimes really computer illiterate and totally miss the point.

so sue my ears and my mouth.

P2P is only a tool, it's the use of the tool which may _potentially_ be illegal, not the tool itself.

What silly people and obviously a quiet day in France.

ttfn

PH 'cos Paris is in France.

"As they ban all postal services (could carry pirated disks), transport (ditto), destroy all roads ( whose main purpose is to carry aforementioned transport), including railway lines and airport runways."

Done, La Poste where I leave is only delivering 70% of the letters at the right address. Railways is done also, crushed with weekly strikes (like this week). Air traffic, done also on strike, this week. Roads are on the way, all toll highways sold for half their prices to greedy companies that are raising prices 10% per year, making it flying less expensive than the toll only.

"Not forgetting to smash all radios (pirate radio stations)."

On its way, all medias nowadays belong to 3 blokes, so competition is not happening.

If they begin to screw internet, I'll leave the country.

WTF? Please stop your knee from jerking in future and read befor posting. I think you will find that Mr AC was using part of our collective folk history to make a poetic point.

France is the country that has (had?) a law which *forces* radio stations to play French music. To "protect" their Gallic culture, they are obliged to broadcast a certain percentage of indigenous music.You'd think they'd be begging people to listen to the stuff for free, not sue them!

p.s - the only french artiste I like is Olivia Ruiz (got the CDs). Nolwenn was *hot*, but her post-Star Ac stuff has been pants.

Paris, cos being inside that version would be infinitely more fun than Département 45.

If there is a judgement against SourceForge then it's difficult to see what the French courts can do. It's not like Google who make money in many countries and have some for of legal presence there for commercial reasons. I suspect that the worse that the French courts could do is to get ISPs to block local access to the Sourceforge website ,which wouldn't go down to well in France and would, I suspect, have very little effect on Sourceforge itself.

As for the intent versus capable thing - well intent is difficult to prove where there are legitimate uses for software. It don't mean that the French courts won't take that view - but national interpretations would vary on this.

It can be used to redistirbute unauthorised copies of copyrighted work.

I recommend that the remedial action taken to solve this issue is the blocking of the entire of Frances' IP range from all SourceForge websites to prevent the French from downloading the application. Anybody from France found using proxies or alternative routing services to access SourceForge websites is obviously accessing computer systems illegally, and should be extradited to the US for prosecution.

I somehow think that a lot of pressure will be put on the Government when the Techs at the major ISPs can't update their SNMP traps and reliability becomes one 9, not 3. See the flock leave the shepherd.

Much better idea is we invade France for once. This has many more benefits over and above the Interweb at large. We can then give them our sensible laws... like the one that says backing up your music collection is STILL illegal. I wonder if our French cousins would find that a refreshing and liberating law like we do?

>Hell, the entire Internet itself could be banned in France.

Maybe this is a secret French plot to revive Minitel?

I currently live in France, and have found the perfect solution. I have simply purchased a disused radio telescope, hooked it up to my wifi card with a couple of alligator clips, and connected to my parent's wifi network in Victoria, British Columbia. Ahhhh Canada, my home and native land, where downloading is legal, but "making available" is not.

I'm currently selling bootleg cds of music for 1 euro less than the price in the shops, and predict retiring to Aruba by mid-2009.

Aliens, because, well, I pick up their wireless networks too...

Yam! Bam! mon chat Splash

Git sur mon lit a bouffe

sa langue en buvant tout mon whisky

quant a moi peu dormi, vide, brime

J'ai du dormir dans la gouttiere

Ou j'ai eu un flash *

Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!

En quatre couleurs *"

Allez hop! un matin

Une louloute est venue chez-moi

Poupee de cellophane, cheveux chinois

un sparadrap, une gueule de bois

a bu ma biere dans un grand verre en caoutchouc

Oooo-ooo-ooo-ooo!

Comme un indien dans son igloo

The French songs/ artists I know are

Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry 7 Seconds , Daft Punk, Air and Frere Jacques.

This is the sort of weird crap we get from the French now and then. As Al Murray would say 'They haven't thought it through' .Similarly the French press is busy ignoring their own cheats and dopers in cycling and going after Lance again. It's always someone else's fault, the sheer arrogance is amazing but boringly expected, too.

Tosseurs.

...but photocopiers are designed to copy things.

How many people use them to copy things they've made themselves? About the same number who use P2P to share things they made themselves...

Xerox France must be quaking in their boots.

Xerox, Konica, Canon and anyone who makes photocopies (you can copy books you know)

Cameras (ditto)... Microphones...

Makers of sharp pointy things that could be used as needles (including but not limited to needles, pins, small nails, toothpicks...), rotating devices and wax...

The problem is that information is merely a pattern of something - and if a pattern can be made in the first place it can be reproduced... with varying degrees of fidelity...

Oh sh*t... caught myself humming a tune I had heard earlier... please amputate my ears before they arrest me (or would ripping out my tongue suffice?)

It is very easy to implement a protection method. Whenever anyone downloads or uploads a file using Bittorrent, you send it by email to abuse@sppf.fr, and ask them if it belongs to them. If they don't respond within five minutes, then you can assume it's OK.

France has previously managed to ban the term 'email', opting for Le Poste Electronique.

One thing in common with piracy in France is it's all done by French people.

The answer is simple: Ban French people from existing. Then they can't violate their anti-piracy laws.

Lest Le Gendarmes get you.

Best troll ever?

When will YOU people learn that:

File sharing = Copyright Infringement

Only When

Car Driving = Speeding

File sharing networks are a TOOL, a TOOL which is being misused by a select few. A kitchen knife in the hands of a murderer, a car under control by a drink driver, and a camera in the hands of a pedophile are all tolls which are MISUSED by a select few.

We have laws regulating the USE of tools, not the tools themselves. By all means, ban the USE of file sharing networks for distributing unlicensed material, but don't expect it to be any more effective than legislation against murder, drink driving, or child pornography.

People will still do it. They will find a way. We need to be SENSIBLE about these things, or we'll end up back in the Dark Ages.

All are designed to copy stuff. Just like P2P.

Sue all makers of recording devices if yer going to sue P2P creators.

Sue iTunes as well whiler yer at it, coz they have a feature to burn your purchased downloads to CD. This is copying music. Sue the bastards.

These bastards sold me cassettes/blank CD's etc etc which were _intended_ for copying music!

Sue the shop keepers that sold it to me, sue the government for taxing me too. Bastards!!!!!!

Does this law mean that the French have to make their own hash pipes?

Paris, because she likes a pipe!

Well, people have been able to copy and distribute software etc. long before P2P was invented. The software used to do this is called an "Operating System", so maybe we need to ban Windows XP (Vista for sure), OS X and Linux. So, Ballmer, Jobs and Torvalds have all time/fines to pay....

Let's be fair, the French do have some very "original" ideas regarding technology and society - in a previous attempt to combat illegal music downloads a number of french politicians & lobby groups actually tried to introduce a new music tax, much like the TV license, from which artists would be paid. This tax being in place, everyone could download til their heart's content while all artists would be paid their fair dues (determined by a council of the wise) and all would be hunky dory in the happy socialist paradise.

Dip-shits.

Does that include: "Joe le taxi?" Surely that can be excluded? ;)

Paris, cos she probably thinks French pop music is ace.

"Do auto makers have to make sure their autos are not used for illegal purposes (speeding, reckless drivers, ignoring stop signs and stop lights, allowing drunk drivers, etc)? Do the alcohol brewers and distributors have to ensure that people don't drink too much and become abusive? Do gun makers have to find a way to make sure their weapons aren't used for illegal purposes? In all of those cases, the answer is a resounding "NO"."

Interestingly, in all of those cases, we have age barriers to use.

And - let's face it - we could probably stop most filesharing if no-one was allowed to use the internet until after they graduated.

This would also protect the kids from groomers and extreme porn.

It was mooted on El Reg a week or two ago and I'm starting to think it's a fine idea.

I'm having a little trouble thinking of something that shouldn't be banned with that kind of reasoning.

So, can I sue my local library for letting people borrow books that discuss TCP/IP networking applications and how to code stuff (possibly including p2p clients?)

The rest of my opinions have been vehemently and accurately expressed by others here, so I'll lay off the swearing and insults. ;-)

A small addendum to that. Before you stick your hand in your pocket, you might want to check whether any money *is* still going to the guys who made it. Case in point, The Bluebells had three hit singles in 1984, but broke up the following year. When "Young At Heart" was used as the backing to a Volkswagen advert in 1993, leading to another spell in the charts, the band got no money from it at all - they had already surrendered future royalty payments in exchange for the record company writing off part of their debt. Instead, coincidentally, they got a reminder that they still owed the record company sixty thousand pounds.

In the *long* run, if the artists don't die, disappear or declare bankruptcy, the record companies usually recoup any money invested in unsuccessful acts. Eventually.

Plastic Bertrand was Belgian, not French!

The only French music worth bothering with is Gojira ( you wouldn't like it! ). Like AC said further up, simply ask the rest of the world to ban all French IP ranges, then when the economy is turmoil and a 2nd revolution is in the offing, perhaps these parasitic lawyers will wake up a little bit!

I hate music copyright infringement, all "pirates" should be strung up for it, I have to pay for all my music due to it's niche nature, so should everyone else! However at the same time, for flip's sake, get some common sense if you're going to mount a world-wide crusade.

Whatever next...

I mean if I heard about a song I may like I want to be able to listen to it all not a silly little clip and If I do like it I do go and buy the CD either the single (hard to get I know) or the whole Album.

A side note to WoW players - I'll tell the lads to shift the servers which may mean delaying getting your DK to 80 I'm so sorry but then we can just turn off *.fr

I'm off to get a frosty reception when i tell my guildmates what I've just done, well I won't feel it as a Frost Mage :P

Courriel, please.

"Since when was there any French music worth copying in the first place?"

Since 1976...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyg%C3%A8ne

Cars

Trains

Planes

Public Transportation

Mobile Phones

Memory Sticks

Flash Drives

Laptops

Cassette tapes

the list can go on and on

Are you sure the left-wing nutty enviromentalist are not behind this.

Eh! Arn't Plastic Bertrand Belgian?

and it's "Oooo-Weeee-ooo-ooo

Paris, 'cos her name sounds french

As long as we're firewalling them, let's remember that someone could mail an illegal mix-tape to a friend in Le Belle France. So we'd better block la Poste, as well.

Woops...! That car has a duplicate CD in the glove box. CLOSE THE BORDERS!

Thank god it's not MY government saying something stupid, for a change.

Does anyone actually care about France to begin with?

I'd just tell 'em to FOAD myself...

I'm not sure that you know this but Napoleon had a little whoopsie at Waterloo and I'm afraid French overseas influence has been somewhat dented ever since then. Now stop listening to Carla (as she should not talk with her mouth full anyway) giving you silly ideas about helping lazy musicians when you should be really concentrating on the fact that the French economy needs a little TLC right now.

Why Paris ? because it's in France stupid (or is that Texas ?)

... keeps the chuckles coming.

So if they lose, who gets the rights to "France surrenders to SourceForge" as a headline?

>Shouldn't it be possible to sue the labels themselves for selling CDs that can be copied easily? Aren't they supposed to provide "a way to block the transfer of unauthorized copyright works"?<

Brilliant! I think I'll sue based on anti-trust considerations, as the CD format, which is so easy to copy, was jointly developed by Sony and Philips, and they even published the spec all over the place. If DVD Jon can get in trouble for posting a bit of code, how much more can these corporations be made to pay for publishing the full specifications - making it that much easier for me to steal copies of my friends' CDs?

In fact, I think it's probably a massive case of entrapment!

I'm not a lawyer, but I lived with law students in university, so I feel as qualified as the Frogtards involved in this caper.

just let that judge in Kentucky take all of the French domains.

Ah yes. Tools use in commission of a crime.

Why aren't makers of pliers and wires being sued in the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity? They sell the torturers tools, after all!

Me, I buy used CD's.

The point is what? The french have screwed themselves over with their stupid internet restrictions. Good, bunch of cheese eating surrender monkies shouldnt be allowed on the net anyway.

Go get yer sen' felt.

You have to make up your mind; does she like pipes or flutes?

Oh who gives a fuck, this has gone too far, this little riaa clone needs some tyres piled up around their office and torched, in true French style.

Or perhaps someone could organise a free CD-R handout to their staff, you know... To piss them off. :)

BTW if a CD can be stolen then doesn't it fall under this "Law".