French Anti-Piracy Plan Agreed

A new anti-piracy body will deal with illegal file sharers in the country.

An agreement between French ISPs, the government and music and film companies has created an anti-piracy body aimed at dealing with illegal file sharers in the country.   Those who do indulge in file-sharing – who are classed as “casual” pirates rather than the hardcore – will find themselves without Net access.   Here’s how it will work: ISPs will monitor traffic from their customers to identify those who do a lot of file sharing. Their details will be passed to the new body, which will issue a warning, threatening a cut-off of Net access unless the offenders cease and desist.   The new body is something a compromise as a way of dealing with the file sharing problem. In return, music companies agreed to make more tracks DRM-free in music stores, and film companies said they’d make movies available on DVD more quickly.   "This is the single most important initiative to help win the war on online piracy that we have seen so far," said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in a statement.   The French President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the new move as a "decisive moment for the future of a civilised internet."