HADOPI Working (Very Hard)

The French record labels said the increase in digital sales suggested the country’s three-strikes law is working, but figures revealed Sept. 29 showed HADOPI – the organisation that enforces it – has been working very hard.

The industry is clearly happy that digital sales were up by 23 percent compared with the first six months of 2010, but HADOPI has found that deterring the pirates is a labour-intensive business.

Reducing illegal file-sharing involved sending out more than 650,000 first-strike warnings in its first 12 months of active operations – about 12,500 notices per week.

More than 44,000 people are now on their second strike and 60 Internet subscribers are in the final and most dramatic stage of the controversial “three-strikes” regime.

This last step sees Internet users formally warned that they’re being monitored when they’re sharing copyrighted material without the rights holder’s permission. If they continue to pirate such material, they’ll lose their Internet access.

HADOPI President Marie-Françoise Marais, who’s responsible for running the “graduated response” scheme, confirmed that in its first five months HADOPI sent a first warning to nearly 471,000 Internet users.

Apart from having their Internet disconnected a month, those who strike out after three warnings also face fines of up to $2,000.