Governments across Europe continue to look at new ways to battle Internet piracy, though realistic methods have been far and few between. A somewhat popular method is to force Internet service providers (ISPs) to disconnect Internet service to file sharers if they've been caught doing illegal activity numerous times.
France is the latest country to debate a three-strikes law, with the country's culture minister recently going on record to help defend the parliament bill. The "creation and Internet law" has met a lot of resistance from opposing legislators and consumer groups, with Internet users obviously not keen on the law.
If signed, French users downloading copyrighted music or video files would be disconnected from the Internet if caught via IP logs three times. An e-mail warning is sent the first time, with a second warning coming in the mail if they're caught again. If popped a third time for downloading copyrighted material, they're automatically disconnected from the Internet from two months up to one year.
"Artists need to make a living," said Jean-Francois Cope, who is the head of the UMP party legislators. "We are ruining them. We must react and have the courage to take our responsibilities."
It should be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this bill, as governments continue to struggle to find a middle ground between copyright holders and Internet users.
