FSF France: French Government Lobbied to Ban Free Software

"[On] Friday November 18th, 2005, French Department of Culture. SNEP and SCPP... told Free Software authors: 'You will be required to change your licenses.' SACEM add[ed]: 'You shall stop publishing free software,' and warn they are ready 'to sue free software authors who will keep on publishing source code' should the 'VU/SACEM/BSA/FA Contents Department' bill proposal pass in the Parliament.

"It appears that publishing Free Software giving access to culture is about to become a counterfeiting criminal offence. Will SACEM sue France Télécom R&D research labs for having published Maay and Solipsis (P2P pieces of software used to exchange data)..."

Complete Story

Complete Story (Français)

Related Stories:

• PC Advisor: Open-Source Software Gaining in Europe(Oct 21, 2005)
• PR: Mandrakesoft, French Ministry of Education and Research Enter Agreement(Mar 02, 2005)
• PC Pro: Microsoft Loses China Contract At Last Minute(Nov 29, 2004)
• CIO Magazine: French Eye Open Source, e-Government Savings(Nov 02, 2004)