This time last year the French parliament came close to legalising P2P file sharing of copyright material. Now the country will go to the other extreme, by introducing measures to stop those who illegally share content online from having internet access. Though it's not that big a u-turn - the French government never supported the legalised P2P proposals, even with some kind of ISP levy, and the whole idea of legitimising P2P came up when the government first attempted to introduce rules to actually stop file sharing.
Last week the French government announced the launch of a new body which will monitor the illegal distribution of content online. The internet service providers have said they will cooperate with the new body, helping them identify individuals who they suspect of illegal file sharing. Those individuals will receive a number of warnings from the new government body and if they continue to illegally share content will ultimately have their internet subscriptions suspended or terminated.
The body was proposed by Denis Olivennes, CEO of French retailler Fnac, who was asked to investigate the whole issue of illegal file sharing by the French government. The body came into being after numerous music, film, video and TV companies, plus ISPs and public authorities, last week signed a Memorandum Of Understanding pledging their support for the new initiative.
The new body has been welcomed by the music business, who have been trying to get the ISPs to play a more proactive role in monitoring illegal file sharing for some time. Under the Memo Of Understanding the ISPs will not only work with the new independent body in identifying file sharers, but will also commit to experimenting with new technologies which filter out the illegal distribution of content.
John Kennedy, boss of the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, told Billboard: "I've been working on this for three years, trying to get ISPs voluntarily to play a role. Kids and consumer groups tell us: you can't blame us for doing this if there are no consequences. When we've talked to them in focus groups about disconnection, they realise that is a huge consequence and that would be a real deterrent. I've always thought that the introduction of a measured disconnection campaign would have dramatic, positive results".
Meanwhile Geoff Taylor, boss of the BPI, also voiced his support for the French initiative, telling CMU: "The French Government has recognised that the talent and investment of artists and innovators must be properly valued on the internet if the digital economy is to achieve its potential. The UK Government has said that if an industry-wide agreement cannot be reached, it will take statutory action to require ISPs to recognise their responsibility to warn customers about IP theft and, if necessary, suspend or terminate their accounts. The BPI has been seeking to persuade ISPs for more than a year that they should implement such procedures but progress has been limited. We will continue to pursue voluntary arrangements, but unless these are achieved very soon we believe that the UK Government must act, as the French government has, to ensure that the urgent problem of internet piracy is tackled effectively".
Not wishing to be seen to be totally one sided, we should note not everyone has welcomed the move - the P2P community isn't too impressed, obviously, and some consumer rights bodies have expressed concerns too. Reuters report consumer group UFC Que Choisir as describing the new body as being "very tough, potentially destructive of freedom, anti-economic and against digital history", while IT website Ars Technica notes: "French internet users will have all of their traffic subject to monitoring by ISPs to ensure that content is not being pirated; that's not good for privacy. And as is always the case with such technological measures, there's always the potential for legitimate content, including the increasing amount of legitimate P2P traffic, to be caught up in a copyright enforcement driftnet".
The French government will publish monthly reports on the activities of the new anti-P2P bureau. It remains to be seen how active it is - some legal types have said the body will have to take action against a large number of file sharers early on for the wider file sharing community to take note.
As an interesting aside, one of the conditions put upon the music firms in return for the assistance they are getting in fighting online piracy is to agree to make their whole French-language catalogues available for legit download without digital rights management technology. It is unclear if that move is backed by Warner Music and SonyBMG who have, as yet, not made any music available without DRM.