France's disputed Internet piracy law passes lower house

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France's lower house has today approved the controversial "three-strikes" law for Internet pirates, giving authorities the power to disconnect multiple time offenders from the Internet completely.

France's disputed Internet piracy law, which would allow authorities to disconnect repeat illegal downloaders, passed the lower house of parliament in revised form on Tuesday but may still face a fresh court challenge.

A previous version of the law, approved by parliament in June, was watered down after France's top constitutional court rejected a text that would have created a body with the power to cut Internet access for those found guilty of illegal downloads.

The constitutional court ruled that the new body could only have the power to issue warnings and that any disconnections could only be ordered by a judge.

"Artists will remember that we had the political courage to finally break the laissez-faire attitude, and to protect their rights from those who want to turn the Internet into a ground for their libertarian utopia," said Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand, who introduced the bill.

The law must still be approved by parliament as a whole and the opposition Socialists have already announced they intend to challenge the measure in the constitutional court.

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The media industry has been behind the bill in the UK, France and other nations for some time now, but strong criticism, from groups who claim the bill will threaten our civil liberties, has kept it as just a bill for over a year now.

The French Culture Ministry has said they expect about 1000 French Internet users to be kicked offline, every day, if the bill becomes law. Besides being disconnected, pirates also face a fine as high as euro 300,000 (about $440,000 USD). Unknowing parents whose kids use the family computer to download unauthorized content are also subject to the law, which will have the family's Internet cut off for a month along with a euro 3,750 fine. The National Assembly voted to pass the bill with a final tally of 285-225 in favor. Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand added: "Artists will remember that we at last had the courage to break with the laissez-faire approach and protect their rights from people who want to turn the net into their libertarian utopia." Enforcement of the law still remains utterly questionable, with lawmakers and the media industry still working out the methods.

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France Passes Tough New Law Against Internet Piracy

The French National Assembly on Tuesday approved a draft “three strikes” law that would allow authorities to cut off Internet access to piracy offenders.

France is getting tough on file sharing, passing a new "three strikes" law that will give judges the power to cut off internet access and impose other penalties on illegal downloaders.

Under the terms of the new law, people caught illegally downloading files will receive a warning by email on their first offense, followed by a warning sent through registered mail on the second. On the third offense, the user's details will be sent to a judge, who will have the power to cut off internet access and impose hefty fines or even jail terms.

In a bit of an odd twist, it's the third time the French government has attempted to pass a law of this kind. The first attempt was rejected by the French parliament, while the second was passed but ran up against the French high court, which ruled that giving sole discretion to cut off internet access to the agency that will monitor web piracy violated the "fundamental human right" of internet access. The new regulations are expected to take effect by the end of the year.

Unsurprisingly, the law has the backing of the movie and music industries, which claim the theft of copyrighted entertainment is costing them "millions of pounds" every year. Pop singer Carla Bruni, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is also said to be a "major backer" of the new legislation.



Frederic Mitterrand, France’s culture minister, left, and Christian Blanc, state secretary for the Paris area, attend a debate on the Hadopi 2 bill, planning to set sanctions against illegal Internet downloaders, on Tuesday. (AFP/Getty Images)