Simon Says – Musings of a Technology CTO

Perhaps uniquely, the French legal system has the means to ban people from the internet in what’s known as the “Three Strikes Law”. Passed in September 2009, it allows for a new government agency, HADOPI ( The Haute Autorite pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des droits sur internet, or Hight Authority fro the Diffiusion of Works and the Protection of Rights on the internet) to forcefully have individuals who flout copyright laws disconnected, and even take measures against people with “insecure connections” who allow them to be used in this manner.

BBC News this week reported that a study by the University of Rennes suggests that since the law specifically relates to peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing systems like EDonkey, Kademelia etc, pirates have simply migrated to other distribution mechanisms like streaming and download sites.