French to clamp down on piracy

France is to press ahead with its campaign to bar surfers who download files illegally from accessing their broadband accounts.

Under new laws which were introduced by Culture Minister Christine Albanel, a new state agency to be called the High Authority for Copyright Protection and Dissemination of Works on the Internet, or Hadopi, will be set up to track pirates.

The anti-piracy agency was introduced as part of a new raft of legislation designed to encourage responsible use of the internet.

Hadopi will field piracy complaints from the music and film industries and track down offenders through their internet service providers.

France is also striving ahead with its controversial three-strikes policy for illegal downloaders, despite other countries finding the scheme unworkable.

Surfers suspected of illegally downloading would recieve an email warning as well as a registered letter for their first infringement.

After two strikes, offenders would risk losing their internet subscription for up to a year.

"There is no reason that the internet should be lawless," President Nicolas Sarkozy told a meeting of his cabinet yesterday.

France's Culture Minister said the new measures, which go before parliament in the auturm and into force from 1 January, could cut piracy as much as 80 per cent.

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