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Jérôme Bourreau-Guggenheim, 31, is head of web innovation at the Internet innovation division of French TV broadcaster TF1. Or, rather, he used to be. Because after sending what he thought was a private memo to his MP, Françoise de Panafieu, a member of the majority UMP party, Bourreau-Guggenheim, “found himself hauled into his boss’ office” where he was, “shown a copy of his e-mail”. Then he was fired, says Ars Technica. He’d opposed the corporate entertainment industry’s HADOPI ‘three strikes’ law French president Nicolas Sarkozy is desperately trying to force through. “HADOPI would be responsible for overseeing warnings and Internet disconnections for those who repeatedly infringe online copyrights,” says the story. “The idea is so unpopular that 88 percent of the European Parliament this week voted to ban the practice unless overseen by a judge.” Moreover, Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony Music and Time Warner, Viacom, Fox, Sony, NBC Universal and Disney are trying and, at this point failing, to have cloned versions of the same ‘law’ implemented around the world.The ministry of culture had Bourreau-Guggenheim’s email, “Because Panafieu’s office had passed the message from its constituent on to the Ministry, which then passed it to TF1, which also supports the new bill,” says the story. Culture minister Christine Albanelis the front person for the bill and, “When contacted by Le Point magazine, Albanel’s advisors said that they were ‘très choqués et alarmés’ by what had happened, even blaming TF1 for an overreaction,” says Ars, adding “On n’a jamais réclamé la tête de ce salarié. La réaction de TF1 est très exagérée!” said the unnamed source. “Cette décision est vraiment regrettable.” (Rough translation: “We never asked for his job. TF1’s reaction was way out of proportion! The decision is truly regrettable.”)Apparently, the Albanel people were just passing the e-mail along for informational purposes—though if that were true, one wonders why the identifying information wasn’t stripped out of the message. “Truly regrettable” is certainly an understatement here, but it’s the same sentiment offered by Panafieu’s office, which says it merely passed the e-mail along to the Ministry of Culture because it was an “interesting argument.”Bourreau-Guggenheim has hired an lawyer to appeal his dismissal, “since it’s discrimination based on political views, which has nothing to do with his work performance,” says Fudzilla.
