All Eyes on France as Officials Enforce New Antipiracy Law
The French are cracking down on illegal online sharing of protected materials. Authorities monitor downloads, and send warning letters to internet users who download a copyrighted text, song or film. Third-time offenders can lose internet privileges for one year, reports Max Colchester for the New York Times. A private firm, paid for by trade associations representing creative interests, monitors popular downloading sites for IP addresses. The enforcement agency “is going after all copyrighted music and film downloaded in France, regardless of where the song or film was made,” Colchester notes. Some critics suggest the monitoring project, paid for by the trade associations representing creative interests, is intrusive and could be used to track individuals' reading or other interests. Even with the enforcement underway, France is subsidizing sites with legal selections for downloading. Other nations seeking to protect intellectual property rights and profits monitor the French endeavor. – YaleGlobal
All Eyes on France as Officials Enforce New Antipiracy Law
The French crack down on illegal downloads of copyrighted materials
Friday, October 29, 2010
PARIS—France’s new Internet piracy police has been scouring the Web this month for people illegally downloading films and music and sending hundreds of warning emails to suspected intellectual property thieves.
The implementation of France's new antipiracy law—which is one of the first in the world, along with similar legislation in South Korea, Taiwan and Britain—is considered a litmus test by other nations hoping to crack down on intellectual property theft.
Responsible for implementing the law is "Hadopi," the acronym for an independent agency that reports to the French Ministry of Culture. Enforcement is meeting early resistance, underscoring how hard it will be to change the behavior of consumers accustomed to accessing pirated music and movies online.
A host of websites across the country have started peddling tips on how to avoid getting caught by the so-called "Hadopi" police. A group of lawyers in southern France is offering legal advice on what users should do when they get caught.
And only after the French government threatened to fine a major French Internet provider, Iliad SA, did the company begin complying with the law by providing the email addresses of suspected offenders among its subscribers.
Hadopi is going after all copyrighted music and film downloaded in France, regardless of where the song or film was made. Violators risk losing their access to the Internet.
"It's going to be tough for this agency to keep up with the fast-evolving nature of Internet piracy," says Anne Pignon-Bormans, a French intellectual property lawyer. But if Hadopi can encourage music and film companies to create better ways to download legally then it may prove successful, she adds.
“"Warning, your Internet connection has been used to commit acts, recognized by police authorities, which could be regarded as in breach of the law."”
France's Hadopi law was passed last fall after two years of legislating and heavy lobbying from the country's creative industries. Internet piracy costs France's music industry €700 million ($978 million) a year, according to the SCPP, a trade association that represents players such as Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, Sony Music France and Warner Music France.
"Up until now people have been doing whatever they wanted on the Internet," says Marc Guez, General Manager of the SCPP. "This had to stop somehow."
To catch offenders, the government has hired a private company—for which a group of trade associations are paying €2 million a year—to monitor file-sharing websites, such as eMule and BitTorrent, to determine when a computer is illegally downloading music or video. A computer's Internet Protocol address can be viewed freely by anyone using these sites.
The private monitoring company then passes the IP address to Hadopi, which then contacts Internet-service providers such as Iliad and France Telecom SA, to get the client's email address and warn the user.
First-warning emails remind users that they are legally responsible regardless of who actually downloaded the film or song from their computer. If there is another infraction within six months, offenders receive a registered letter warning them to stop downloading. A third offense can lead to legal proceedings and a one-year Internet connection black-out.
Hadopi wouldn't reveal how many emails it has sent so far. A spokeswoman says the group expects to eventually receive up to 125,000 IP addresses a day.
Renaud Veeckman co-founded SOS-Hadopi last month with a group of about 40 lawyers to provide legal help to people who are suspected of pirating content. He has acquired one client so far, who contacted him after she received a letter at the beginning of the month, he says.
Several bloggers have set up sites with names such as "Avoiding Hadopi for Dummies," which give tips on how to avoid getting caught.
One advises Internet users to download films and music onto a remote computer outside of France. Internet newsletter Numerama provides help in crafting a letter of response to Hadopi for people who receive warning emails.
"This is not about protecting culture; it's about keeping tabs on people," says Paul Da Silva, a spokesman for France's Pirate Party, a political pressure group that lobbied against the law.
French Internet-service provider Iliad had originally refused to forward warning emails from Hadopi to suspected offenders, but the French government recently amended the Hadopi law to specify that warning emails must be forwarded by Internet service providers to clients within 24 hours of reception. It also threatened Iliad with a €1,500 fine for every email it refused to send.
French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand said in a statement that Iliad's attitude was "unacceptable."
A spokeswoman for Iliad said the company was now complying with the law.
There are other technical problems. For instance, many Internet subscribers aren't sufficiently tech savvy to protect their connections, potentially allowing unauthorized users to log in to their accounts and pirate music and film. To address the issue, Hadopi is currently writing a guide explaining how to secure Internet connections.
Proponents of France's antipiracy law remain upbeat about the project. Research by France's biggest music trade association, SNEP, shows that after a first warning, 70% of people are likely to stop downloading illegally.
Last week the European Commission approved a French government project to subsidize legal music downloads, in which the government will cover half the cost of prepaid cards worth up to €50, which can be used to buy songs online.
Legal offerings are "developing fast," says David El Sayegh, director of the SNEP. "It shows that there is a real demand for a legal alternative," he says.
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