Up until now, the only two main ways the RIAA and many other music organisations could come up with to tackle end user piracy is to file lawsuits against hose suspected of file sharing of their copyrighted music and for its labels to infect music sold online with DRM. Both have serious side effects: The settlements the RIAA asks for mainly picks on the less well off (such as students) and are generally issued without any previous letter of warning. The DRM measures seriously limits what devices one may listen to their music on, how one may use their purchased songs and also picks on those who legitimately buy music, however, at least EMI and Universal are giving DRM-free MP3 music a try.
France has now come up with a far more sensible approach over the RIAA method with the creation of a new policy to tackle pirates. Its anti-piracy body's plan is to have Internet Service Providers issue warnings to those found to be illegally downloading or sharing music. Second time offenders will be issued a threat of suspension or termination of their contract and those caught a third time may be banned from their Internet service. The chairman of the French retail chain store FNAC believes music sales have declined as a result of online file sharing, but also believes that large fines and prison sentences that are part of the current French law for copyright infringement are "totally disproportionate", saying that a ban on Internet access is a more reasonable punishment.
Further info on this can be read on DailyTech and The Times.
