France Cracking Down On Online Piracy

Paris (dbTechno) - French officials are trying to crack down on online piracy by proposing a plan which will cut off broadband connections to people who illegally download movies or music online.

This is the hardest crackdown yet in France in regards to piracy on the internet. President Nicolas Sarkozy has come out and stated that they are going to go for a “three strikes” policy in regards to fighting internet pirates.

They also announced a new deal with film and music companies which would allow for more media to be available online.

Offenders are going to be sent a series of e-mail warnings. If they ignore the warnings they could face having their broadband account suspended or even closed, cutting off the internet indefinitely.

Entertainment companies are also going to drop all copyright protection on French material, allowing for any movies or music to be bought online and played on any device, with no DRM at all. This would make them easier to copy, but the new plan is to crack down on such things.

Sarkozy stated “Everywhere in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, professionals and governments have tried for years to find the grail to fight the problem of internet piracy. We are the first, in France, to form a big national alliance around concrete and effective proposals.”