Posted: 30th Mar, 2010 By: MarkJ
A new Marsouin study of 2,000 broadband Internet users in Brittany (France) has revealed that illegal file sharing behaviour has increased by 3% since the Hadopi "
three-strikes law" was passed in October 2009. However Hadopi itself is yet to be fully introduced.
The legislation means that "suspected" pirates are given several warnings to cease their activity or they may face disconnection for up to 1 year. The cut-off only occurs if a panel of judges gives the action their support. Pirates can also face fines or even imprisonment. This is similar to proposals currently being put forward under the UK's Digital Economy Bill (DEB).
The study found that the vast majority of French Internet users (70%) did not engage in piracy. The use of file-sharing (P2P) services fell among those questioned 17.1% to 14.6% since last October 2009. The use of sites and services not covered by the Hadopi law grew by 27% over the same period.
The survey found that more people were using private forums, streaming services, closed download sites and virtual servers to engage in illicit file sharing, effectively changing their habits and going underground. Interestingly the BBC News Online article said that half of those who were regular buyers of digital content also pirated material.
This is exactly the sort of activity that had been predicted by worried ISPs and it could prove problematic for Rights Holders because many such services are hidden and encrypted. In other words neither Rights Holders nor ISPs could verify such activity. By contrast P2P all happens in a very public and exposed way.