Illegal downloaders and Internet pirates, pray you don't live in France. Why? Simple. The French government is as tired of Internet piracy as anyone whose work product has been stolen and they are doing something about it.

Under a new "three strikes" law proposed by the French government and supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the government will work with Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to monitor high-traffic users and look for illegal file-sharing. Offenders will be given two warnings and may have their Internet service suspended or terminated on the third strike.

In exchange for the government's assistance in dealing with piracy, the entertainment industry--which has underwritten the new anti-piracy law--has agreed to some compromises. The music industry will allow for individual downloads of music by dropping digital rights protection and the movie industry will shorten the time between theater release and DVD release by six weeks.

The problem of Internet piracy and illegal downloads appears greater in France because of the wider availability of high-speed dsl and other broadband, which are necessary for moving large files quickly.

Naturally, this plan was met with hand-wringing and breast-beating by civil liberties groups over the loss of freedom (freedom to steal disguised as freedom of expression) and government involvement in the process.

I am a civil libertarian and, while I would prefer that the government not be involved, I understand the frustration of the real victims here: the musicians and performing artists whose work product is habitually stolen for profit. If anyone is going to point the finger of blame for this, it should be at those who steal the media and those who download it; these people enable the theft to continue.

How bad is the problem of piracy? The IFPI, which is a trade group of the worldwide recording industry, estimates that up to 50% of all Internet traffic is based on P2P trading in illegal file-sharing, including illegal downloads of movies and music.

I'm sure the world is watching where this goes in France and we could see similar legislation in other countries in the future. Piracy is a problem that plagues all of us, whether it be software piracy or illegal downloads of music and movies. In addition to industry-standard anti-piracy software, the government is now stepping up its own brand of enforcement.

Those of you who steal, you've been warned.

For Further Reading, click:
France plans to cut off internet pirates
Illegal Downloaders to be Blocked By French Government?

Additional Reading on China's Cooperation with the US Government to End Piracy:
China joins FBI in piracy operation
Beijing’s markets to evict pirate vendors