French Pact Aims To Fight Unauthorized Downloading

PARIS, Nov. 23 (Reuters) — Internet users in France who frequently download music or films illegally risk losing Web access under a new antipiracy system unveiled on Friday.

The three-way pact among Internet service providers, the government and owners of film and music rights was drafted by a commission led by the chief executive of FNAC, a big music and film retailer in France. The industry has called for action against illicit downloads, which are cutting into its sales.

Under the agreement, service providers will issue warning messages to customers downloading files illegally. If users ignore those messages, their accounts could be suspended or closed altogether.

“We run the risk of witnessing a genuine destruction of culture,” President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a speech endorsing the deal.

He added that the Internet must not become a high-tech Wild West, “a lawless zone where outlaws can pillage works with abandon or, worse, trade in them in total impunity. And on whose backs? On artists’ backs.”

An independent authority, supervised by a judge, will be set up and put in charge of deciding when to issue electronic warning messages to Internet users.

The deal also creates obligations for film and music companies to make their works available online more quickly and to remove technical barriers like those that make music tracks unreadable on certain platforms.

The international recording industry hailed the move.

“This is the single most important initiative to help win the war on online piracy that we have seen so far,” said John Kennedy, head of the industry’s trade body IFPI.

“President Sarkozy has shown leadership and vision. He has recognized the importance that the creative industries play in contemporary Western economies,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement.

Consumer groups and politicians in France, however, have said the deal, which was signed by several companies on Friday, is too restrictive.

The consumer group UFC Que Choisir said in a statement that the deal was “very tough, potentially destructive of freedom, antieconomic and against digital history.” The group argued that tough antipiracy penalties were already in place.

Mr. Sarkozy said that it would take time for the effects of the new system to become clear, but that it would achieve its aims. “If it works, we will carry on the same way,” he said. “If it does not work well enough, we will take the measures to obtain results.”

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