3 Million Strikes Law

Just more than 10 percent of those in receipt of an initial warning went on to receive a second warning, while 0.4 percent of those sent a second warning got a third. Hadopi’s figures show that 1,289 went on to have their cases looked at by its examining committee; 116 went to make a court appearance, where it appears most of them were given yet another warning.

France was one of the first countries to adopt the “three strikes” method of dealing with file-sharing, although both rights holders and file-sharers have cast doubts on how effective it’s been.

Hadopi claims the system is effective based on the fact that only 10 percent of those who received a first warning went on to need a second.

It’s also been argued that the subscribers who received a first warning may have just improved their security or found safer methods of downloading. Hadopi says a poll it carried out among some of those receiving a first warning showed that 73 percent did not switch to another method of illegal downloading.

However, it also says: “Receiving a warning does not result in a massive shift towards legal offers.”