3-strikes  law is passed by the French Parliament in late night session. Opposition arguments failed to change its course, and alternative sanctions were squashed.  1000 people  a day are expected to be cut off the Internet under the new law. 

At around 11pm last night, the French Assemblee Nationale voted in favour of the Creation and Internet law . This is the law that will bring in graduated response or 3-strikes measures to clamp down on peer-to-peer filesharing and the uploading of music and television videos onto websites such as  You Tube.  According to French news reports, only 16 Parliamentarians were present for the vote, which

Read more: France votes in 3-strikes law

Christine Albanel is put  under pressure over attacks on civil  liberties in the French Creation and Internet (3-strikes)  law and insults the opposition. But government amendments carried and opposition ones defeated.

The second day of the debate in the French Parliament on the Creation and Internet law, which seeks to cut file-sharers off the Internet for downloading copyrighted content, was interrupted by a  double gaffe from the  French culture minister, Christine Albanel. Under fire from opposition Socialist and Left parties over her 3-strikes proposals,  she accused the opposition members  of creating a caricature of  the Hadopi authority as 'some sort of Gestapo'. In France, the use of the word 'gestapo'  represents a serious insult, and she was forced to retract her statement. 

It came in the middle of a debate on Article 2 of the law, which sets out the functions and structure of the Hadopi - the authority which will oversee the 3-strikes measures. Madame Albanel  was responding to an attack from the opposition that the Creation and Internet  law made an assumption that the person accused is guilty, unless they can prove their own innocence, reversing the legal principle of presumption of innocence in  European law. It followed a long series of opposition accusations that the Hadopi represents an attack on civil liberties -  which also include the lack of privacy

Read more: Hadopi is no gestapo, gaffes French culture minister

French opposition politicians accused the Sarkozy regime of waging war on France's youth, in the  first day of debate on the Creation and Internet law in the French Parliament .  In a polarised debate - ‘Internet users versus ‘la creation' -   415 amendments were tabled.

***There is a  live webcast of the French Parliament debate on the Creation and Internet law. ***

Will Madame Albanel, the French culture minister,  get her way?  The French  Creation and Internet law (also known as the Hadopi or 3-strikes law) is creating a deep divide  the French Parliament (Assemblée Nationale), including a riftt within President Sarkozy's own UMP party.

The law is an 'anti-piracy' measure, and seeks to put in place a graduated response or 3-strikes regime of penalties for French Internet users who download. It is particularly targetting peer-to-peer file-sharers. The polarisation of views was  evident in watching the first day of the debate, which was yesterday (11 March). Opposition politicians accused Mme Albanel and the Sarkozy government  of  ‘liberticide' and waging war on France's youth. They attacked the law for its proposals to police the ‘Net, creating ‘Orwellian

Read more: Hadopi law: waging war on France’s youth