EU Parliament's Telecom Reform Raises "Three-Strikes" Concerns

According to BBC News, members of the European Parliament voted yesterday in favor of advancing new telecom reform legislation known as the Telecoms Package that includes a series of controverisal amendments that digital rights activists say would pave the way for a 'three-strikes' law against online copyright infringers in Europe.

MEP Malcolm Harbour, a key backer of the Telecoms Package, dismissed that idea, telling BBC that the amendments "have nothing to do with copyright enforcement. The interpretation of them is alarmist and scare-mongering and deflects from the intention which was to improve consumers' rights."

Opponents, led by a French group called La Quadrature du Net, warn that the legislation designed to harmonize Europe's telecom laws would instead threaten the openness of the Internet by requiring ISPs to give individuals suspected of downloading unauthorized copyright material two warnings before cutting off their Net access entirely. Another organization, Free Internet Infrastructure (FFII), went a step further, saying that a provision that would give the government the power to determine what type of software can be used online (and what can't) would lead to a "Soviet Internet" in Europe.

The European Parliament will vote on the legislation in September.

For more, read the full BBC article here.