French music piracy bill goes back to parliament

Legislation aimed at tackling music piracy in France has gone back to parliament.

A French bill designed to tackle music piracy on the internet is to be re-examined in the country's parliament after it was rejected earlier this month.

The legislation, which has been championed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, would see web users disconnected by their internet service providers if they repeatedly ignore warnings not to download copyrighted content illegally.

Under a so-called three strikes rule, they would receive email warnings from a newly-created state agency if they were found to be downloading music, films and video games without paying for them.

After the third warning, they would have their connection suspended for up to one year - a proposal backed by film and record industry officials who have been fighting for tougher measures to tackle the intellectual property issue.

The bill was defeated by 21 votes to 15, in a vote in France's lower house earlier this month, despite winning earlier approval by the Senate.

Concerns had been raised over privacy, with copyright holders being granted access to web usage data in order to identify illegal downloaders.

There were also warnings that consumers could be punished unnecessarily as a result of hackers hijacking their computer.

An amended version of the legislation will now return to the French parliament for debate, allowing both supporters and opponents to put forward further changes.

Research carried out recently by a team at the Norwegian School of Management revealed that people who download copyrighted material for free for it are also ten times more likely to purchase it.

The study examined the downloading habits of 2,000 web users over the age of 15 and concluded that the more material consumers obtain illegally the more they are likely to buy through legal channels.