Skip navigation
MOST POPULAR RELATED TAGS
  • TOPICS
  • SECTORS
  • COMPANIES
Media Money Video Gallery
Insight on the tentative deal, its impact on GE-Comcast talks, and an analysis of the changing media landscape, with CNB...
A look at how media giants are competing for audience in an increasing digital world, with CNBC's Julia Boorstin.
MEDIA MONEY INDEX
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

MEDIA MONEY VIDEO GALLERY

» More

Current DateTime: 01:37:40 02 Dec 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31765984
Expiration DateTime: 12/2/2009 1:39:04 AM

RSS FEED

» Help

Current DateTime: 01:37:41 02 Dec 2009
LinksList Documentid: 31625651

Media Money

Text Size
Apr.14
5:27 PM ET
Tuesday, 14 Apr 2009
France Seeks 'Three Strikes' Law vs Web Piracy

France is determined to shut down Internet piracy, and President Nicolas Sarkozy won't take no for an answer. Sarkozy is working to pass a "Three Strikes" rule that would kick anyone who illegally downloads three times, off the internet.

If France were to pass this kind of law, other countries like the U.K. could quickly follow suit. France's upper house passed the law, but last week the National Assembly rejected it, in part because banned Internet users would still have to pay for their broadband service.

Now Sarkozy's government is back at work, tweaking the bill to resubmit it to parliament. Tomorrow the president of France's National Assembly and party leaders will meet to discuss tweaks and a timetable. Experts fully expect some version of this bill to eventually pass.

But enforcement won't be easy. Pirates are smart enough to steal copyrighted content — won't they be smart enough to figure out how to get broadband access? To tackle this issue the bill would create a government agency to find pirates and tell their Internet service providers to cut them off. Those government agents are going to have to be sneaky and persistent. Plus there's the challenge of getting the service providers on board.

Piracy is a huge problem for Hollywood, which, according to the MPAA, generates a disproportionate percentage of movies distributed around the world. There's no doubt that a crackdown is necessary: Hollywood loses about $20 billion every year to piracy. But does it make more sense to attack the people pirating content, or the companies that enable them?

The U.K. has discussed a similar three-strikes rule for online pirates. But the British recording industry and British Internet service providers haven't been able to make a deal on how to tackle the problem. They need so much help that Britain's communications minister created a new government agency to mediate between the two.

Would three strikes work in the U.S.? Because of the sheer scale of the problem it would be challenging to go after everyone who illegally downloaded a song, to say the least. Could broadband service providers be enlisted? Maybe; we'll see how it goes in France and the U.K.

Could consumers be forced to pay even when they've been kicked offline? In the U.S., there's no way that consumers, even those responsible for piracy, will put up with that.

________________________________
Internet Service Providers (U.S.):

Time Warner Cable [TWC  Loading...      ()   ]

Verizon Communications [VZ  Loading...      ()   ]

Comcast [CMCSA  Loading...      ()   ]

________________________________

Questions?  Comments? 

© 2009 CNBC, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Tools:
PrintEmailAdd This share icon
Next Post
  • digg share
ADD COMMENTS
Remaining characters


Current DateTime: 01:02:15 02 Dec 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29778428

Current DateTime: 01:02:15 02 Dec 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779196

Current DateTime: 01:02:15 02 Dec 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779199

Current DateTime: 01:06:02 02 Dec 2009
LinksList Documentid: 29779198
  Data is a real-time snapshot  *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis

© 2009 CNBC, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
A Division of NBC Universal
Thomson ReutersThomson Reuters