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French President Busted For Copyright Violation 317

An anonymous reader writes "ZeroPaid has an interesting take on the story of Nicolas Sarkozy being accused of copyright infringement. The irony, of course, is Sarkozy's pushing of a 3-strikes law — disconnecting from the Internet those accused of file sharing — in France and across the EU. The French president had apparently offered to settle the copyright infringement accusation for one Euro, but the band rejected the offer, calling it an insult. The article notes that each year since 2006, a high-profile anti-piracy entity has been on the wrong end of a copyright infringement notice. In 2008, Sony BMG was sued for software piracy. In 2007, anti-piracy outfit BASCAP received a cease and desist order related to pirated software. And in 2006, the MPAA was accused of pirating 'This Film is Not Yet Rated'."
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French President Busted For Copyright Violation

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  • Do. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by neoform ( 551705 ) <djneoform@gmail.com> on Sunday March 01, 2009 @02:27AM (#27028037) Homepage

    Do as I say.

    Not as I do.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by yttrstein ( 891553 )
      Anyone have a look at Miss Bruni's iPod lately?
      • Re:Do. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by commodore64_love ( 1445365 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @11:34AM (#27030407) Journal

        Miss Bruni is the French president's wife?

        What I found funny abotu this article was the president's arrogance - "Yes I did violate copyright, but I'm only giving you 1 Euro." Can you imagine any of the rest of us getting-away with that? "Yes RIAA I received you letter demanding $5000. I'll give you 5 instead." Fat chance. ----- Politicians think they don't have to follow the laws that we do. They think we poor schmucks have to pay $5000 settlement to RIAA, or $75,000 per song according to the law, but for THEM.... well now, 1 Euro should be sufficient. Right? After all politicians are "special".

        So much for the 1700s ideal of creating a classless society where everyone is treated equally. Politicians still believe they are nobility.

    • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      because the s***'s so deep you can't run away
      I beg to differ and on the contray
      a victim of catch 22....

    • Or turned around

      I do what gets me money and power...

      Not what I say.

  • The band in question (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bedonnant ( 958404 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @02:35AM (#27028073)
    is MGMT, for what it's worth. When the band decided to sue, Sarkozy's party offered a "symbolic euro" for compensation.
    • by bedonnant ( 958404 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @02:45AM (#27028125)
      Also, for information, the 3-strikes law will be discussed next week, and implies juicy stuff like "guilty until proven innocent" and "you can only prove innocent if you have installed official government trojan horses on your computer" and "these malware have no requirement of interoperability, which hurts the choice of costumers (!)". Citizens and bloggers (such as myself) following the Quadrature du Net association are calling for a "blackout" (link in French, sorry) [laquadrature.net] of the French side of the internet in protest.
      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by icebike ( 68054 )

        Oh, yes, a black out will work... That scares the hell out of them.

      • Wasn't Attali also instrumental in swaying European opinion against software patents?

      • Well, obtaining a french phonebook shouldn't be too hard. Beyond that point it is just a question of setting up a distributed system for sending out infringement notices (they should not come from one source or look too identical, since that makes them too easy to filter). This will clog up the courts, and will knock the entire nation of France of the internet in short order.

  • by StrategicIrony ( 1183007 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @02:46AM (#27028131)

    It's amazing that most people simply accept that Hypocrisy is the norm. That's sad.

    The copyright organizations call for "zero tolerance" and are then caught themselves.

    The congressmen who rail against finding teenagers attractive are caught lusting after them.

    Preachers who rail on homosexuals are caught fucking gay prostitutes.

    Vigilantes who claim to catch online predators are found to be employing young teens in their exploits and having child pornography on their computers.

    Educators who rail against drugs and demand for instant lockup of drug offenders... are found to be drug users themselves...

    These are all real stories.

    Instead of stepping back and recognizing that their viewpoints may be of questionable value and that they may have made errors in judgment... they just ignore their mistakes and continue in their hypocritical ways.

    And the world is a worse place for it.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:20AM (#27028231)

      People often hate most of others what they hate most of themselves. They're angry with themselves that they can't control their own behavior, so they lash out at others and attempt to control theirs. It's a compensation mechanism. Either that, or it's plain old game theory--an attempt to persuade others to cooperate while one defects, thus maximizing personal gain.

      I once had a lengthy discussion with a mother who was bat-shit loco against people looking at kiddie porn. She thought anyone who looked at kiddie porn should be sterilized, and that producers should be locked away forever. Deeper into the conversation, she admitted to having looked at kiddie porn, and further admitted to having posted pictures of her nude son on her blog (bathtub pictures). She conceded that she was a hypocrite, but defiantly refused to change her opinion about what should happen to OTHER people who did what she did.

    • by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:29AM (#27028265)

      These things have *always* happened.

      The only difference is that cameras, record-keeping databases, and surveillance have all gotten much better over the last thirty years.

      Hell some of the early popes had mistresses.

      Power corrupts.

      The only real solution is shrinking the amount of power and wealthy any one person can have. And that boat has sailed.

      • by vigour ( 846429 )

        Hell some of the early popes had mistresses.

        Hell, if you believe some of the now discredited early histories, there was even a woman pope, Pope Joan [wikipedia.org].

      • by trenien ( 974611 )
        Well, in Sarkozy's case, he was already waaay beyond simple corruption before he was even elected president. Now he just gets to fulfill most of his fantasies.
    • by mqduck ( 232646 )

      It's amazing that most people simply accept that Hypocrisy is the norm. That's sad.

      You're telling me that hypocrisy isn't the norm?

    • ...and yet you'd be the first to claim "seperation of public and private life" for any hypocrite whose opinions you agreed with. A civil servant may represent the people officially, as part of his job, and have entirely different viewpoints personally. But if it's one of the GOOD PEOPLE, then it's totally OK, it's not hypocrisy, it's all part of the rich intellectual landscape of life, where people can perform duties in public and then retire outside view and conduct his own business as he sees fit.

      See,

    • It's amazing that most people simply accept that Hypocrisy is the norm. That's sad.

      The copyright organizations call for "zero tolerance" and are then caught themselves.

      The congressmen who rail against finding teenagers attractive are caught lusting after them.

      Preachers who rail on homosexuals are caught fucking gay prostitutes.

      Vigilantes who claim to catch online predators are found to be employing young teens in their exploits and having child pornography on their computers.

      Educators who rail against drugs and demand for instant lockup of drug offenders... are found to be drug users themselves...

      I don't find that so unusual. If a person is doing something wrong and knows that he is hurting someone, that does not mean that he has the power to stop himself. That could be just the reason that politician X is against action Y. He knows how bad Y is because he cannot help from doing it himself.

      In fact, this is the situation in my own home. I spend way too much time on the intercords, but I don't let the kids online for more than a few minutes at a time. Mostly because I am aware of my own addiction.

    • I think there's something else going on. All of those folks making the draconian rules can't be that stupid. They just automatically know they don't believe it, and only follow it as much as they hope is necessary not to get caught.

      Meanwhile, we're in a time where Aggression Wins, because if you lose a round, "Awww, someone caught me this time. Give it 3 months and a new co-angle, and maybe they'll miss their chance".

      In the Game Theory grid, there's no serious penalty for losing and everything to gain with

  • by gringofrijolero ( 1489395 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:00AM (#27028179) Journal

    He'll just start mooching off his neighbor's wifi.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) *

      He'll just start mooching off his neighbor's wifi.

      And if that fails, he can mooch off the neighbor's wife.

  • by Rogerborg ( 306625 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:01AM (#27028181) Homepage
    Cinq... quatre... trois... deux...
    • This is the case with Israeli anti-spam laws. In December, spamming from Israel became illegal. Except for political spam, which was very common in the elections last month. WTF?!?

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by corbettw ( 214229 )

        Great, so now Israelis have to deal with offers to enlarge their penises from their politicians? Don't those people have enough problems already?

  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:03AM (#27028191)

    Here in Chile, the president of the SCD (Society of Author Rights) was caught with pirated software, in a powerpoint lecture about... you guessed it... PIRACY! (they are triying to copy the spanish law, taxing the internet connection for the "lost of revenues")

    http://www.elnortero.cl/admin/render/noticia/18164

    An our congress try to pass a 3-strikes law for ISPs... with a word document created by a SCD lawyer with a pirated copy of windows ("UE, The Houze"). There are even commemorative t-shirts!

    http://url.ie/10xd

    http://www.elfrancotirador.cl/2009/01/15/ponte-la-camiseta-con-el-acceso-a-cultura/

    There are RIAAs scammers in every country.

  • by rastilin ( 752802 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:05AM (#27028197)
    Not like this is the first time something like this happened. Wasn't there one story where the family of an executive officer of the RIAA was accused of this and he pushed the company to let them off with a warning?
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 01, 2009 @03:14AM (#27028215)

    The french president Nicolas Sarkozy is not directly sued for this copyright infringement. His own party (UMP) used the song during a meeting, and didn't reported it to the french RIAA (SACEM) for artist compensation, wich generally is pretty low.

    The UMP party is sued for this, but not the french president, who was not in charge for the organization of this meeting, and has presidential immunity.

    But's that's pretty funny anyway.

    • by 51M02 ( 165179 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @07:52AM (#27029087) Homepage

      Well again it is not the the UMP party fault either. It's their advertising firm that used this song illegally. And it's this firm that is paying for the song. After all they are paid by a political party to make them looks good to the youngters and used, without permission this song.

      Let's be clear here, it's not that old party of old folks that knows about MGMT. It's like Reagan and "Born in U.S.A"'s Springsteen song all over again.

  • We need to enforce these laws against the children of music/movie executives and politicians and the wealthy.

    Then the laws will be changed quickly.

    But most of those groups think they are immune to the same treatment as the rest of humanity.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by bloodninja ( 1291306 )

      We need to enforce these laws against the children of music/movie executives and politicians and the wealthy.

      Then the laws will be changed quickly.

      But most of those groups think they are immune to the same treatment as the rest of humanity.

      They are _not_ enforced. There was an incident about a year or so ago in which some music exec's kids were caught downloading illegal music. What did they get? A stern warning from dad.

  • by French31 ( 1311051 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @04:13AM (#27028413)

    I know Nicolas Sarkozy being an omnipresent president and all, but it's not like he personally chose the song, right? It's actually some people among his political party (the UMP) that decided to play the song in two meetings.

    Otherwise, the result is the same: the political party from which Nicolas Sarkozy is has been busted for copyright infringement. It's a further proof that copyright laws are being way too tentacular. Can't they just see it?

    • by Aladrin ( 926209 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @05:27AM (#27028621)

      It wasn't just played in 2 meetings.

      "The party has admitted to using the popular track, Kids, at its national congress in January, in two online videos and in political advertisements. " - From the link inside TFA. (TFA is more of a blog post than an article.)

      But the ire at Sarkozy isn't from the playing of the song and violating the agreement, it's at him trying to offer 1 euro to buy his way out of breaking the law he wrote.

    • by trenien ( 974611 )

      I know Nicolas Sarkozy being an omnipresident and all

      It's a further proof that copyright laws are being way too tentacular. Can't they just see it?

      They know. They just don't care. The only important thing is to make sure that their cronies get as much as they can and as they can get away with.

      That law hasn't be discussed by MPs, it's been written down by the majors and the SACEM (local equivalent to the RIAA) who don't even understand its unredeemable defects. Some MPs from Sarkozy's party may even be against it, but most don't care and they'll all vote yes since they want endorsement for the next elections.

      The worst of it is that it goes agains

  • May Sarkozy get the worst possible treatment allowable under law. I hope he gets all his computer (and other electronic devices) seized and thoroughly examined.

    Not out of any hate of Sarkozy, or any need for vengeance for the wrongs committed by the RIAA against innocent people.

    The purpose is this: I believe that those in power should be feel the impact of their decisions.

    You want greater surveillance? Fine, we'll start around your house. You want to wage a war? Fine, any of your eligible children get "volunteered" for army service. You want to give the police power to search people without a warrant? Fine, you'll get searched daily both near your home and near your workplace.

    Then, maybe, just maybe, people would think twice. They tend to when there's something at stake for them.

    This is really an extensions of Schneier's idea about security: the one in charge will make the decision that matches their own agenda. We the people have to make it a part of the agenda of the people in power to make sure their decisions are sane. I've proposed a way.

    May this makes Sarkozy's life really shitty for a while.

  • All people are equal, just some are more equal than others. Somehow this story reminds me of this statement again and how true it is. :-/

    Now infringing on copyright in the fair use realm is one thing, infringing on copyright to gain financial or professional benefits is something I object! Trying to settle for 1 Euro is indeed rediculous! :-

  • Obligatory (Score:5, Insightful)

    by harmonica ( 29841 ) on Sunday March 01, 2009 @02:19PM (#27031811)

    If the president does it, it's not illegal.

Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them. - Oscar Wilde

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