It should come as no surprise that a country that calls Google Books “cultural rape” is the first country to pass a comprehensive graduated response regime, currently called HADOPI that we’ve been following for quite a while.

HADOPI 2 which was opposed by a group led by the French Socialist Party was approved by Les Sages, the French Constitutional Council, and is the law. This is a far cry from the “global license” debacle promoted by opponenents of artists in 2005 that would have brought Terry Fisher-type justice to the world, and which was resoundingly defeated in the National Assembly in 2006, then again by HADOPI 1 and now by HADOPI 2.

In other news, “Euro-MPs have backed away from an amendment that would have protected citizens’ online freedom. Amendment 138 – which would have made internet access a fundamental right that could not be cut off – has been watered down after pressure from governments.”