France wants to cut off pirates from the Internet

[ware4me]

Thanks to a ground-breaking industry agreement backed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, internet users in France that download unauthorized music and movies could find their internet access cut off by the government.

The plan, which Sarkozy will talk about more in depth in the next days, will be a three strikes you're out policy in which you lose internet access after the third strike. Repeat offenders will receive two warnings before being shut down. ISP's will be forced to give information to the proposed enforcement body on "high volume users", basically users that use large amounts of bandwidth per month.

The proposal has been written up by an independent review led by heads of the entertainment and retail industries. If it goes through, the music and film industries, internet service providers and the government are all likely to sign up.

There is however, a bright side to this deal. In exchange for the clamp down on unauthorized downloading, the French music industry has agreed to remove DRM from archive French material. The film industry also agreed to release DVDs quicker after its cinematic release, reducing the delay from 7½ months to 6 months.

Clear critics stand in the way of the new proposal however, including members of Sarkozy's parliament. UFC-Que Choisir, a consumer association, said the plans were "very harsh, potentially repressive, anti-economic and against the grain of the digital age".

Marc Le Fur and Alain Suguenot, two deputies from within Sarkozy's own party were both very against the proposal as well. The move "creates a truly exceptional jurisdiction for downloaders contravening the principle of equality before the law," Le Fur added.

More updates on the proposal as it moves towards a vote. More at: Euro2day

[darkandshadow]

Wow...more political BS from the French. What will they come up with next?

Obviously, I don't see this passing as it is in direct violation of privacy; doesn't matter what country you're in (too much, there are exceptions out there unfortunately).

Besides, this wouldn't work anyways. You get a group of 20 people who want an album, they only pay, what, 50 cents each person? Then the CD gets copied and distributed. Oh look, this defeats the purpose.

Now, if the DRM was still there, even if this legislation still goes through, there are dozens of ways of getting around all of that copyright BS.

I just think that any of this kind of legislation goes through, there should be a vito/protest. Obviously, there would be too much power in the hands of the companies (ie: inflation without consequences).

*Should have seen the thread date first >>*

[Zer0]

glad i dont live in france