Posted: 24th Nov, 2007 By: MarkJ
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has signed off on a new accord that will see online users that repeatedly download illegal online content banned from using the Internet. Could it happen here too?:
The plan has been drawn up by French retail exec Denis Olivennes. It will see signatory ISPs - including France Telecom, which owns
Orange in the UK - hand over information on heavy users of file-sharing networks to a new enforcement body which will formally warn them to stop. If they persist, their connection will be cut.
As part of the bargain, movies will be released on DVD six months after the cinema run, and music will be offered for legal download DRM-free. The BPI, which used to stand for the British Record Institute, welcomed the French move. Chief exec Geoff Taylor said: "
The BPI has been seeking to persuade ISPs for more than a year that they should implement such procedures but progress has been limited."
A spokesman for the ISP trade association
ISPA told The Reg: "
The BPI's opinion is up to them. The Department for Business, Employment and Regulatory Reform is aware that we are engaged with on this issue and we welcome contact from rights holders."
Naturally this isn't a UK news story but you'd be wrong to think that various British bodies and organisations weren't going to keep a close eye on developments over the channel. It's quite conceivable that if the French initiative proves itself successful then we could see something similar happening here.
In the meantime UK ISP's are already busy trying to thrash out some degree of voluntary agreement, although we'll have to wait until 2008 for word on that. More @
The Register.