Last month, the French Chambers approved the law “Internet et Création”. This law defines the HADOPI that is the administrative authority to handle French graduated response.

About 60 deputies referred to the French Constitutional Council. Was the law constitutional? The council provided the answer today.

In short, the articles 5 and 11 are unconstitutional. There are mainly two reasons:

• The French declaration of Human Rights requires that the citizen has free speech rights. The Council estimates that today the Internet is one of the mandatory means of free speech. Only a judge can restrain this right and not an administrative authority.
• The French Constitution requires presumption of innocence. It means the court has to prove the guilt. The law inverted this principle. The Netsurfer had to prove his/her innocence. This is unconstitutional.

In view of these two points, the French Constitutional Council ruled that articles 5 and 11 were unconstitutional.

Thus, the story continues…