Illegal Downloaders to be Blocked By French Government?

rdavison writes "According to a recent article on the Financial Times site, 'internet users in France who download music and films without paying for them could find their web access shut down by a government body.' The proposal originated with FNAC, an entertainment retailer. According to the article, the proposal has a good chance of being accepted. 'In exchange for the clampdown on illegal downloading, the music industry has agreed to make individual downloads of archive French material available on all types of players by dropping digital rights management protection. The French film industry has agreed to release DVDs more quickly after a film's first cinema screening, reducing the delay from 7½ months to 6 months. However, consumer groups and even some of Mr Sarkozy's own members of parliament on Thursday attacked the proposal for a new internet policeman as a threat to civil liberties.'"

Comments

No web access?

[matt me]

Isn't most illegal file transfer done by BitTorrent? How would this help, except to make searching harder?

Re:How about lowering your own prices first?

[pipatron]

Retailers like FLAC should realize that outright gouging of your customers doesn't spur business.

I don't know about you, but I prefer to get my music in FLAC, even after the recent security flaws.

Re:warnings

[Seumas]

Suing school children for $100k is a rather good idea as far as I'm concerned. Would it be that I controlled things, all children would be forced into a life of servitude. Grubby little parasitic bastards.

Re:Dumb. As in, large steaming pile of ...

[mpe]

In a city where even McDonald's offer free wifi for the price of a cheeseburger (not to mention the schweet municipal wifi project rumored to be in the works), this typically represents what De Gaulle said about the French right-wing politicians: the most stupid in the world.

There's some tough competition when it comes to "most stupid politicans in the world". Do French right wingers have some special advantage, like negative IQs?

6 months instead of 7.5?!?

[Scrameustache]

Are they insane! That's MUCH too generous! It'll kill the entire industry and no one will ever make a movie EVER AGAIN! They've gone crazy!

And dropping some DRM in exchange for total control on who can access the net or not? That is also a deal much too sweet to offer, come on! We're talking about critical access to online banking, governmental program information, communications with friends and employers, and maybe even the means to vote someday, you can't offer something as precious as releasing some content without crippling digital restriction managements for something as trivial as the ever-increasingly vital access to the internet! Crazy talk I say! CRAZY!