/ 11 March 2009

Sarkozy moves to punish illegal downloaders

The French government has been accused of "Big Brother" tactics over an anti-piracy Bill which aims to punish people who repeatedly download music.

The French government has been accused of “Big Brother” tactics over an anti-piracy Bill which aims to punish people who repeatedly illegally download music and films by cutting off their internet access for up to a year.

The proposed law, which will be debated in Parliament this week, will create a new state surveillance agency to monitor internet users online.

With the help of internet service providers and tip-offs from music and film companies, web surfers illegally downloading music, films or video games will be identified. They will first receive an email warning, then a registered letter, and if caught again they will see their web access cut off for up to a year.

The Bill is a pet project of the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who has taken advice from music and film industry leaders as well as his showbusiness friends who warn that France’s creative industries are on their knees as a result of illegal downloading. The president’s wife, the singer Carla Bruni, has long advocated a crackdown on piracy.

The Culture Minister, Christine Albanel, has argued that France is “the world number one” in illegal downloading. In 2006, an estimated one billion pirated files were shared in France. A recent poll found 57% of 18-24 year-olds admitted they had made illegal downloads and one in three French internet users admitted to online piracy.

Music accounts for the biggest share of illegal downloading, followed by films, video games and American TV series which viewers do not want to wait for.

But although the senate has passed the Bill, a heated row over civil liberties is expected as Parliament debates the law this week. Christian Paul, a Socialist MP leading opposition to the law, said it would create a precedent for “massive surveillance” of the internet and society as a whole. “Criminalising a whole generation is a dead end,” he added, warning that crisis-hit record companies needed to look at their business plans instead. Socialists argue that the law, which focuses on file-sharing or download sites rather than new technologies of streaming, is inconsistent and already outdated. – guardian.co.uk