The Pirate Years: Copyright Policies in the 2000–2010 Decade

Between 2000 and 2010, Internet policies in Europe revolved around one main issue: the fight against illegal downloading of creative works. The protection of intellectual property was one of the first and main attempts to regulate content on the digital public sphere. But these initiatives faced many challenges, calling into question the legitimacy of State intervention on the Internet. In France, the debates on piracy led to an unprecedented politicization of Internet issues and a reorganization of sectorial boundaries for digital policies. This chapter offers new insights into the politics of copyright and the tensions it provoked within and outside the State. It studies this “pirate years” as a key moment for the bureaucratization of the Internet, a phenomenon marked by a stronger hold of senior officials on digital policies.