French Internet Piracy Bill Approved

PARIS: A new bill in France that will suspend the Internet service of someone caught downloading pirated content three times has been given final approval by the Senate.

The controversial legislation, called the Creation and Internet bill, passed the lower house yesterday in a 296 to 233 vote and was given approval by the Senate in a 189 to 14 vote. It calls for the creation a new state agency, HADOPI (the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des droits sur Internet), that, when alerted to an illegal download, would first send a warning e-mail, then a letter. If a third infraction is reported, the pirate would have their Internet connection cut off for up to a year. The user would also be blacklisted by other ISPs.

The bill’s approval comes just a week after the European Parliament adopted a measure that would prohibit member state governments from terminating Internet access without a court order.