RIAA gives thumbs up to France's three-strike law

Mitch Bainwol, CEO of the RIAA.

(Credit: Declan McCullagh)

France has passed a law that requires Internet service providers to cut off Web access of customers accused of illegally downloading copyright material multiple times.

Last Thursday, the French National Assembly passed the "Creation and Internet" law, which implements a graduated response program similar to one the recording industry is asking ISPs in the United States to adopt.

According to a story in BusinessWeek, the accused are first e-mailed a warning that they have been flagged as a copyright violator. If the person is accused a second time, the pressure is increased. Another warning is sent but this time in the form of a letter mailed to the person's house. A third accusation will trigger the "three-strikes" part of the plan, and the person's Internet access can then be suspended for up to a year.

Two weeks ago, CNET reported that AT&T has begun assisting the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) by sending out warning letters for people accused of copyright violations. The company also acknowledged experimenting with sending warnings by way of certified letters to customers' homes. The ISP, however, said it would never shut off anyone's service without a court order.

Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's chairman and CEO, has never called for government regulation in this country, but said that France's decision to implement a three-strikes law is a sign the relationship between ISPs and copyright owners across the globe is only getting stronger.

"Each country will forge its own solutions to this challenge," Bainwol said in an e-mail to CNET, "but the general pattern is clear. ISPs and the content community are working together in a constructive way to find common solutions that work for all sides."

The move by France's lawmakers comes as creators of content ranging from music to movies to book publishers appear to be taking the offensive against illegal file sharing or Web services they accuse of using their copyright work without permission.

High-ranking newspaper executives this week were critical of Google and Web sites that aggregate news for profiting from news stories without compensating the publications that produced them.

Across the Atlantic, the European Union passed the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive, a law that enables copyright holders to obtain a court order that requires ISPs to hand over IP addresses of people accused of infringing on intellectual property.

Police in Sweden last week began making arrests of those accused of breaking the new law.

[Throgged]

Gotta love companies that can't update their business model to keep up with the times and have the money to swim against the current. 30 bucks for a crappy recycled movie from 15 years ago, 20+ bucks for a CD with MAYBE 2 songs worth it on there. Let me just park my wheelbarrow fool of cash on your front porch RIAA. Like Don King always said "Only in America" or in this instance... France

[Pete Bardo]

"The relationship between ISPs and copyright owners across the globe is only getting stronger". If by that he means that copyright owners are now able to strong-arm ISPs, he might be right.

Sure, suspend the account if the user is found guilty of copyright infringement, but just because he's been accused three times? That's the problem with this whole mess. RIAA and the like accuse individuals of copyright infringement based on their use of P2P networks and not necessarily on what's actually being downloaded.

[Dalkorian]

How *DARE* you criticize the all mighty RIAA. Your goose step salute better be perfect as you march past them, or you shall also be accused! Try to defend against an accusation, slave!

[wahoospa]

Q. Wonder what happens when the RIAA catches one of their own family downloading music?
A. Nothing.

[Stumped_in_Canada]

[quote]France has passed a law that requires Internet service providers to cut off Web access of customers accused of illegally downloading copyright material multiple times.[/quote]

In my country one is afforded a trial before penalties are handed out ..... hate to live in France ... only need to be accused!

[lleather]

This is exactly why I use encryption while moving files across the net. We already know the NSA is spoofing all the packets of average Americans in the name of "national security". These same idiots cannot keep countries out of our electrical grid network.

What I do on the internet is none of their business.

SSL or IPSEC - let's see an ISP spoof those packets :)

Not!

Sharing will continue to happen only all the traffic will be encrypted and big brother will get told to get lost. The various sites that share data will have to charge a subscription (overhead for updating to SSL) and the sharing sites will insist you use encryption will pulling or putting up files.

Files? What files? We don't know nothing about no files?

[da_bombdiggidy]

This is just a movie waiting to happen. Someone plugs into the house's wifi network. They steal Britney Spear's Greatest Hits. The owner has no clue and suddenly they are left without internet access. If only they could include a naked woman screaming, an explosion, and David Hasselhoff. Ah, the summer blockbusters are coming.

[jtjt145]

RIAA = MAFIA
"Getting peoples money - without working is our motto"

[Michichael]

This is why I love our due process protections, flimsy as they are. The blood sucking lawyers would have a field day if somebody's access was cut off just for being accused.

[MusicandLight]

Hopefully, people will continue to pay for material goods and return to payment for digital goods as before. Without a common sense approach to this the pirates will not stop, and we'll wind up with an online Police State. Industry, government and the artists themselves are not going to back down in the face of global looting and so far, no one advocates digital theft but the thieves.

[monkeyfun14]

Maybe RIAA can stop spoofing packets.

[Dalkorian]

When you try to see a pirate in everyone, you end up seeing everyone as a pirate. When everyone is already considered a pirate without having done anything, they eventually decide instead of trying to defend themselves against baseless accusations they should at least enjoy the benefits of those whom they are accused of being.

The RIAA is accomplishing nothing more than making more pirates. They just aren't smart enough to realize they can't win.

[rallynochaos]

Someone's stealing my wireless AGAIN and using it to download pirated media? Those pesky neighborhood kids! *wink wink*

[Dalkorian]

More like the RIAA is once again making baseless accusations against people behind the IP addresses they see using P2P software without a clue as to what it's being used for. They are ASSUMING you are "stealing" their content, so they accuse you of doing so. You can't prove your innocence (neither can they prove your guilt, but that isn't important to them - the Constitution is just a piece of paper after all), so you deserve to be punished.

*wink wink*

[jemiller0]

Hmmm, so they can kick you off the web for being _accused_ of downloading copyrighted material. I guess you are guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of the RIAA. Everyone go buy BlueRay discs so the fat cats in Hollowood can buy bigger mansions.

[monkeyfun14]

Isn't the method of finding out if your doing this illegal?

I would think it would fit into stalking or spying somewhere along the line don't you think?

[MrBoomshadow]

I honestly think that even the people who work for the RIAA and the labels behind it will be better off when the organization has shut down and is just a bad memory. They're bad for artists; they're bad for labels; they're bad for consumers.

[clumpkin]

Looks like the French Parliament has already rejected it.

http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2009/04/09/le-parlement-rejette-le-projet-de-loi-creation-et-internet_1178838_651865.html#ens_id=1162478 (it's in French)

Good thing considering how it was passed in the first place.
http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/04/03/1432258

[umbrae]

By years end, there will be no french people online...

[darfjono]

this got shot down. so much for the RIAA.

[CantStandRockStars]

Rock stars suck. Screw 'em. Arrogant pieces of dirt. They treat their fans like trash, the very ones that made them rich. I hope they all loose their butt.

And the Association? Ha..............