French internet pirates will no longer be disconnected from the internet if they violate copyright laws. Since Tuesday the French anti-piracy legislation has been officially changed, reports the French ministry of Culture and Communication.
The HADOPI law that makes it possible to disconnect users from the internet after three warnings is eased. The law allowed content owners to report users that would first get two warning letters and after the third time would be (partly) disconnected from the internet.
According to the French Minister of Digital Business this was undesired as internet access is an important basic service and can be compared to access to water or electricity.
In May, the government already released a report that concluded that disconnecting users from the internet is not a good measure. They recommended to fine users with $60 in case of multiple violations of the law. However French content owners argued that that fine was too low.
The French government is now looking into an option where users will receive higher fines. They will gradually become higher if pirates continue to infringe on copyrights and can go up to $1500. Internet providers will also need to continue to share names and addresses of internet users with the government.
In total one person was denied access to internet since the introduction of the Hadopi law, which was passed in 2009 under President Sarkozy. A few weeks ago, an internet users in Seine-Saint Denis was disconnected from the internet for 15 days. The offender also received a $600 fine.
