Rich Fiscus
20 Jun 2008 2:13
If you've been wondering what ever happened to France's plans for a so-called "3 strikes" law to punish file sharers repeatedly caught violating copyright law, have no fear. It's not gone, just a little behind schedule.
French Culture and Communication Minister Christine Albanel expects it to pass this fall, which is apparently they can get it in front of parliament due to a large number of bills lined up in front of it. The original plan was to put it to a vote before summer.
If you're not familiar with the controversial proposal, as originally laid out it would have required ISPs to monitor subscriber traffic for copyright infringement and send them threatening letters if caught. If someone were to be caught three times they would lose their internet connection.
The actual bill is apparently a little different, and would instead create a government agency to monitor P2P sites and catch file sharers in the act.
The law, was not only drafted by the entertainment industry, but even given an official introduction and stamp of approval at the MIDEM music industry conference in France earlier this year. In return for getting the government to prop up their outdated business model the recording industry has magnanimously agreed to work on getting rid of DRM in online music.
What's that you say? Consumers have already forced them to do that? Don't tell the French government or they may think they've been had.
Ironically if they succeed the biggeset losers will be the music industry itself. As study after study has shown, the same people downloading illegally are the ones who buy most of the legal music as well. It's hard to sell a download to somebody you just kicked off the internet.