France has decided to use a three-strikes-your-out rule to shutdown internet connections for illegal downloaders.
Under a cross-industry agreement, internet service providers (ISPs) must cut off access for up to a year for third-time offenders.
In a classical French approach the scheme will be enforced by a new £15 million a year state agency, to be called Hadopi (high authority for copyright protection and dissemination of works on the internet).
The law has strong backing from Mr Sarkozy, who has taken a close interest in artists’ rights since marrying Carla Bruni, a model and folk singer. However, it has run into opposition from a range of bodies including the state data protection agency, consumer and civil liberties groups and the European Parliament. Big web companies, including Google, and Dailymotion, the video-sharing firm, refused to sign up to the 40-member industry accord last November.
Lame. I don’t quite get why they need Google and friends to play along.