The pendulum on the entertainment industry’s push to have countries force ISPs to kick accused (not convicted) file sharers offline via a “three strikes” policy keeps swinging back and forth. While there was some capitulation recently, with the EU Parliament group that was negotiating with the EU Commission agreeing to remove the clause claiming that internet access was a human right, Hephaestus was the first of a few of you to send in word that negotiations have moved back a bit in the other direction. The new agreed upon text says that internet access is a human right, and that anyone should have the right to defend themselves against being kicked off the internet. But… (and it’s a big one) if internet access is such a human right, why should anyone ever need to defend themselves? That’s because the new text doesn’t really mean what it says. It will still allow countries to force ISPs to kick people off the internet without judicial review. The only thing it adds is that people will be able to appeal after the fact. That’s really not that helpful.
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