The French Government has taken further steps to combat piracy online. The executive went ahead with a Bill that aims to protect online creations and which, according to the French minister of culture, could reduce piracy by 80 percent.
The project foresees the disconnection of connections from which illegal downloads or appropriation of protected content were made, after two initial warnings not respected by the offenders. The stay without Internet can vary between three months and one year, depending on the crime in question. . The penalty may be reduced by paying fines.
Compliance with the legislation is the responsibility of an independent entity, composed of magistrates, whose mission is also to identify protected works.
The French project is the outcome of a proposal presented last year by a group that included several representatives of the industry and that proposed a set of measures, some of which are now reflected in the Bill.
The United Kingdom is also carrying out a legislative revision that creates cooperation ties between the State and ISPs and that provides for the penalization of offenders with the deprivation of connection to the Internet connection (see related news).
Related News:
2008-02-22 – Britons impose anti-piracy measures until April 2009
2008-02-12 – England can «turn off» the Internet to those who download it illegally
2007-11-26 – French project shuts down Internet access to anyone who downloads illegal content
2006-03-17 – French parliament toughens sanctions for online piracy
