UN Criticises ‘Three Strikes’

The United Nations has criticised France’s “three strikes” anti-piracy laws because it says disconnecting suspected illegal filesharers from the Internet is a violation of human rights.

A special dossier compiled by UN special rapporteur Frank La Rue will reportedly focus on the growing frequency and sophistication of Internet filtering by various governments.

The UN’s Humans Rights Council has issued the new report on online free speech that is especially critical of the three-strikes laws in operation in France and the UK.

The report says cutting off Internet access as a response to copyright infringement is “disproportionate” and therefore conflicts with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights.

It also calls for governments to repeal or amend existing intellectual copyright laws that permit users to be disconnected from internet access, and to refrain from adopting such laws.

Last month French Internet laws were put on hold after Trident Media Guard, the company tracking those suspected of breaching copyrights, had its own computers hacked.

In the UK the Digital Economy Act may well face further legal tests. On May 30 Internet service providers British Telecom and TalkTalk announced they’re seeking leave to appeal the High Court ruling that blocked their bid to overturn the new law.

Meanwhile a French Court has said merely having the word “torrent” in a domain is encouraging copyright infringement.

The court decided to punish the administrators of a search engine for torrent files because people using a site with the word “torrent” in its URL are likely to be trying to download copyright protected works.