http://www.p2p-blog.com/item-966.htmlSome European countries have been moving towards a so-called three strikes model to disconnect repeat P2P infringers from the Internet, but Germany's not having it. The German Department of Justice recently met up with leading ISPs for a confidential consultation to discuss the music industry's new favored strategy against piracy. There isn't too much know about what went down behind closed doors, but the German IT news service heise.de is reporting that both sides agreed that Three Strikes is incompatible with German pirvacy and telecommunications laws. Participating ISPs called the meeting "successful", according to heise.de. The German music industry would probably disagree. The local IFPI branch recently complained that Germany's entertainment industry is going to have a competitive diadvantage if countries like Ireland enact Three Strikes, but Germany doesn't. Ireland's biggest ISP Eircom recently agreed in an out-of-court settlement with major music labels to forward warning notices to alleged infringers. Users that are caught three times will find heir accounts terminated.
Update: The German blog Spreeblick wanted to know more and asked Germany's Secretary of Justice Brigitte Zypries for an official statement. Zypries did actually respond, and her answer leaves few doubts that we won't see a Three Strikes-type scenario in Germany anytime soon. Here's what Zyrpies had to say: "I don't think that (Three Strikes) is a fitting model for Germany or even Europe. Preventing someone from accessing the Internet seems like a completely unreasonable punishment to me. It would be highly problematic due to both constitutional and political aspects. I'm sure that once the first disconnects are going to happen in France, we will be hearing the outcry all the way to Berlin."
Common sense seems to be slowly winning through. Ireland may regret having jumped to the music industries command.
