The French government has given the green light to that controversial 'internet and creation' legislation which contains that thing about cutting off internet access for people who consistently share unlicensed content online despite being warned about their copyright violation.
As previously reported, French politicians were the first to consider the idea of sending warning letters to web users who illegally share music online, and to ultimately force their ISPs to cut them off if they continue to infringe copyright online after receiving said warnings, after proposals to that effect were put forward by the former boss of French retailer Fnac, Denis Olivennes.
British politicians have since said they will also consider similar new laws if the ISPs cannot agree a voluntary code of practice regarding policing online piracy with content owners, like the record companies, by early 2009. And Aussie politicians have also indicated they will watch with interest moves in France and the UK to force ISPs to act on illegal file sharing, with perhaps a view to adopting such moves themselves.
The French proposals, which will now have to get through both of France's houses of parliament, would see the creation of an independent authority who would send out the warning letters and order persistent infringers to be cut off. They would adopt the previously touted three strike system - file sharers would get two warnings before being cut off.
The new body would rely on content owners to alert it of possible infringers. It would then have the authority to force ISPs to reveal the identities of alleged file sharers - confidential information that content owners currently have to go to court to secure. The new body will also be able to order persistent infringers be cut off for anything from three to twelve months, though shorter suspensions of service may be given to those who commit to stop file sharing.
Launching the new proposals, French culture minister Christine Albanel told reporters: "This is an innovative framework to solve a problem that is particularly important in France". However, the ISPs and some consumer rights groups are expected to oppose the legislation, and will get very busy lobbying French MPs as the proposals are debated in parliament later this year.