Paris, Thursday, April 10. The European Parliament adopted a resolution this morning which commits the member states - therefore France - "to avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."[1] This vote proves that the system of graduated response that Nicolas Sarkozy wants France to adopt quickly and to extend to Europe during the French Presidency of the EU, is seen as contrary to human rights by a majority of MEPs.

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A new French citizens' lobbying group wants public debate on Internet-related regulation affecting human rights and freedoms, one of its organizers told us Friday. "Squaring the Net" (La quadrature du net) hopes to help spur a "societal movement which we feel is ready to develop," said Philippe Aigrain, director of the Society for Public Information Spaces.

Permanent link: http://www.laquadrature.net/the-debate-is-open

Paris, March 26, 2008. While the Olivennes bill [0] aimed at building the "graduated response" must be voted before the summer in France, a group of citizens launched "Squaring the Net" to alert on this and other equally disturbing governmental projects, and to make alternative proposals.

Since the beginning of the year, the french government has announced various projects relating to Internet:

The French parliament will soon debate a draft law "about the High Authority for the dissemination of works and protection of the rights on the internet". The project incorporates the recommendations made by the then CEO of FNAC (biggest CD and DVD retail stores in France), Denis Olivennes. One of the key measures is to sanction a violation of copyright by cutting access to the Internet.