French ‘Three Strikes’ Anti-Piracy Law Gets Ditched

The infamous ‘three strikes and you’re out’ French anti-piracy system implemented back in 2009 and under which the government would suspend the Internet connection of repeat copyright infringers is now history.

Ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy was among the first to adopt the controversial anti-piracy law designed under the careful watch and guidance of the entertainment industry (other countries to enforce a similar method were Australia, New Zealand and South Korea). In order to smooth things out, a taxpayer-funded body was created – Hadopi – it took on the mission of supervising the monitoring of Internet subscribers and controlling the warning system.

This meant successive warnings sent to repeat alleged illegal file-sharers which, if ignored, led to internet connections cut-off.

This mechanism was met with strong opposition from privacy advocates and Internet activists.

An official decree published this morning by the Socialist government of Francois Hollande gets rid of the provision in the law that enforced this type of disconnection. Fines and other penalties were kept as before.

“This measure is necessary because it ends a penalty that is not suited to today’s world, and because it illustrates the new orientation of the government’s efforts to fight online piracy,” Reuters quoted Minister of Culture Aurelie Filippetti.

According to Filippetti, France’s efforts to combat online piracy will be directed from now against websites that make money from illegal file-sharing rather than individual users.