Digital protest over internet law
Internet users organising mass file-share events in Paris, Toulouse and Lyon on March 28
PROTESTERS are organising file-sharing events in three major cities in France in protest at a new internet law that threatens to cut off users found downloading films and music illegally.
Organisers say Download Day March 28 is a last chance to give a physical face to those fighting to save “access to culture” ahead of the adoption of the law internet et creation which is currently being voted through the National Assembly.
STORY: 45% admit pirating films and music
Organisers are urging people to turn up with a rare work such as a hard-to-find film or piece of music “that they want to keep in the public memory” and other pieces available through a creative commons licence.
The files can be brought on CD, DVD, or usb stick and will be uploaded on to peer-to-peer file exchange sites.
Event organisers say the new law does not solve the problem and that the solution “is not repression, but research into new solutions, adapted to the contemporary realities of culture, whether it involves the choice of licences or the way artists are paid.”
Download Day will take place on March 28 around the Arc de triomphe du Carrousel near the Louvre from 14.15.
Other Download Days are planned for Marseille, Toulouse and Lyon. Organisers also welcome suggestions for events to be held in other towns via twitter. twitter.com/dday_fr
For more information visit http://sites.google.com/site/downloaddaycontrehadopi/
