Greetings. To the shock of the legislation's supporters and detractors alike, the horrendous and oppressive proposed "Three Strikes" Internet law that I discussed yesterday has been soundly rejected by the French national assembly, by a vote of 15 - 21.

Since the vast majority of observers on both sides of this debate had expected the legislation to be approved, the result is nothing short of stunning, and calls into question the entire rationale of those who would use intellectual property concerns as an excuse to trample upon the basic liberties and rights of Internet users.

Whether the legislators who voted down the proposal did so out of careful analysis, primal fear of political repercussions, or some other combination of factors is currently unclear -- nor can France or any other country assume that new attempts to trample basic concepts of fairness won't reemerge repeatedly related to the Internet (or in other aspects of our lives, for that matter).

But today at least is a good day for the Internet and its users.

Vive la France!

--Lauren--

Update: In fact, word is already out that the bill will be resubmitted to the legislature as soon as possible, for further votes when a higher percentage of the legislators are present. One way or another, these efforts will drive the rapid adoption of encryption/VPN technologies for file sharing and most other Internet applications -- a positive development even if it comes about through such unfortunate legislative measures.