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French three-strikes law has unintended consequences
11 Mar 2010 | 17.56 Europe/London
Is the threat of being disconnected from the internet encouraging digital pirates to change their behaviour? The short answer is yes, but perhaps not in the way that was intended.
A survey by the University of Rennes (PDF) found that the overall level of online copyright infringement has actually increased slightly. The researchers questioned 2000 consumers in Brittany region of France about their online habits, and found that the number of internet users who admit to downloading illegal content was 3% higher in the last few months of 2009 compared to before the law was passed.
The increase in copyright infringing behaviour seems to be happening in spite of France’s new “Hadopi” law, which came into effect at the start of 2010. Under the controversial three-strikes policy, alleged copyright infringers will receive warning letters from their ISP; on their third warning they will be reported to a judge who has the power to hand down penalties ranging from fines through to severing their internet connection. Although the law hadn’t come into effect at the time of the survey, when questioned most people said were aware of the law and its consequences.
The new law, of course, was enacted to eliminate illegal file-sharing. Critics of the law said that it would simply result in people finding ways to circumvent the law, and indeed it appears that may already be happening.
Of the people who said they used peer-to-peer networks to download illegal content – the only technique monitored by the Hadopi authority – 25% of them said they had changed their behaviour. But among those who stopped downloading using peer-to-peer networks, only one third renounced all forms of digital piracy, while the remaining two thirds moved to alternative practices, such as streaming, newsgroups and so-called cyberlockers.
Recognition of the fact that there’s more than one way to obtain online content illegally is behind the controversial amendment 120A to the Digital Economy Bill, which seeks to give government the power to order ISPs to shut down websites found to be hosting unlawful copies of copyrighted material. Having been introduced at the last minute, the amendment has not been properly thought through, and would give too much power to copyright holders, say the UK’s ISPs, many of whom have signed a letter of protest published in the Financial Times this week.
Another interesting revelation from the study was that around half of digital pirates also buy legal music or video over the internet. Cutting the connections of these users could reduce the market for digital creative content by 27%, the study concluded.
This finding echoes a similar study carried out by Ipsos Media CT for Demos, a UK-based think tank. The Digital Music Survey found that digital pirates spend almost twice as much on digital music as their more law-abiding peers.
A survey by the University of Rennes (PDF) found that the overall level of online copyright infringement has actually increased slightly. The researchers questioned 2000 consumers in Brittany region of France about their online habits, and found that the number of internet users who admit to downloading illegal content was 3% higher in the last few months of 2009 compared to before the law was passed.
The increase in copyright infringing behaviour seems to be happening in spite of France’s new “Hadopi” law, which came into effect at the start of 2010. Under the controversial three-strikes policy, alleged copyright infringers will receive warning letters from their ISP; on their third warning they will be reported to a judge who has the power to hand down penalties ranging from fines through to severing their internet connection. Although the law hadn’t come into effect at the time of the survey, when questioned most people said were aware of the law and its consequences.
The new law, of course, was enacted to eliminate illegal file-sharing. Critics of the law said that it would simply result in people finding ways to circumvent the law, and indeed it appears that may already be happening.
Of the people who said they used peer-to-peer networks to download illegal content – the only technique monitored by the Hadopi authority – 25% of them said they had changed their behaviour. But among those who stopped downloading using peer-to-peer networks, only one third renounced all forms of digital piracy, while the remaining two thirds moved to alternative practices, such as streaming, newsgroups and so-called cyberlockers.
Recognition of the fact that there’s more than one way to obtain online content illegally is behind the controversial amendment 120A to the Digital Economy Bill, which seeks to give government the power to order ISPs to shut down websites found to be hosting unlawful copies of copyrighted material. Having been introduced at the last minute, the amendment has not been properly thought through, and would give too much power to copyright holders, say the UK’s ISPs, many of whom have signed a letter of protest published in the Financial Times this week.
Pirates are big spenders
Another interesting revelation from the study was that around half of digital pirates also buy legal music or video over the internet. Cutting the connections of these users could reduce the market for digital creative content by 27%, the study concluded.
This finding echoes a similar study carried out by Ipsos Media CT for Demos, a UK-based think tank. The Digital Music Survey found that digital pirates spend almost twice as much on digital music as their more law-abiding peers.