French three strikes law ruled pre-revolutionary

Ah, here come the tumbrels for the music industry. It turns out that three strikes rule, which the RIAA-IFPI loves so much, had actually been outlawed by the French Revolutionary Government.

Yes, the idea of throwing people off the internet was actually considered to be a bit too much back in 1789, making John Kennedy the Marie Antoinette of our age:

The [French constitutional] Court found several parts of Hadopi unconstitutional, violating the citizen's right to free speech, and the presumption of innocence. The Hadopi authority also failed to possess sufficient legal status to carry out its job, Judges concluded.

"Freedom of expression and communication is all the more valuable that its exercise is a prerequisite for democracy and one of the guarantees of respect for other rights and freedoms and that attacks on the exercise of this freedom must be necessary, appropriate and proportionate to the aim pursued," they wrote.

That's quite something - I've been banging on for the best part of a decade that the music industry is desperately trying to cling on to the past, but I'd never realised until now quite how far back they're looking.

Tomorrow: "Let's throw sellers of pirate CDs into the Bastille, cries John Kennedy"