French piracy increases 3% despite three-strikes law

[Matthew DeCarlo]

It's been half a year since France passed its harsh three-strikes policy against piracy, and despite the threat of massive consequences, online media theft is more rampant than ever. Under the new "Hadopi" law, alleged infringers are given two warnings followed by a punishment that could include being banned from the Internet, a fine of as much as $415,000, and up to two years in prison.

Proponents of Hadopi originally believed such penalties would convince millions to stop downloading copyrighted content, but it hasn't worked out that way. Rather than discourage pirates, the new law is pushing them to find alternatives.

In fact, piracy rates have increased by 3% since the policy was introduced, according to the University of Rennes. While BitTorrent use declined from 17.1% to 14.6%, file-sharers who stopped torrenting moved to streaming services or to private file-hosting sites, which are not covered by Hadopi.

Another interesting note is that half of all P2P users who download copyrighted content also buy digital content online. This suggests that if their Internet connection were revoked under Hadopi, the entertainment industry could lose further revenue, making the new law entirely counterproductive.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/38216-french-piracy-increases-3-despite-three-strikes-law.html

 

[thebluemeaner]

Laws are definetely no way to combat piracy. The music and movie industry should be ready with options that are competetitive. An example to follow is itunes and steam for games.

 

[Clrabbit]

"This suggests that if their Internet connection were revoked under Hadopi, the entertainment industry could lose further revenue, making the new law entirely counterproductive."

Stupid laws like this is the reason why the problems get out of hand.
Any time you go slapping large un-necessary punishment on crap you get what they call "Rebellious behavior". You put a HUGE SIGN up that tells me DO NOT WALK ON GRASS chances are I'm now going to want to walk on the grass. on the other hand if you would simply have put a nice looking notice that said. "Please do not walk on grass." I would then make sure and be very diligent about not walking on the grass.

Any psychologist worth a **** could tell you the more you threaten the more you make people WANT to do it. another example on new science not to long ago there was an article explaining that Anti-Smoking ads actually increased the amount people smoked. The lesson? If you don't want people to do something put a nice "none-threatening" notice up, and then call it good, you only need to do something when people are completely out of control, and then you only need to do something about that person or group and leave the minor people alone.

Piracy has been around pretty much sense the begging of the net, it's not going anywhere. the only reason so many people are using it, is the fact they keep giving it so bloody much face time, it's getting hard NOT to know were and how.

Live and let live, Stop shouting about it and most people wont even know its there; thereby reducing the amount that happens.
It's like the "WAR on DRUGS" all over again, you know what THE WAR on drugs did for the US? It spiked the amount of drugs used by people. It's just like the saying "Fanning the flames of war will only stoke the fire."

 

[Clrabbit]

also adding to my above rant. It dose not add to consumer love of all this money being spent on suing and punishing people when you look at numbers.

Example:
Avatar
Budget $237 million
Gross revenue $2,606,954,237 (So far)

Star Trek (2009)
Budget $150 million
Gross revenue $385,494,555

I'm sorry but when you hear about RECORD breaking sales and piracy killing profits in the same week.

 

[seefizzle]

What's crazy is that the people making these laws are probably too old to even understand what's really going on. They just have movie and record industry spokespeople blowing smoke up their butts. We can't allow people that don't understand the issues make laws about it.

 

[mrtraver]

This made me smile. Thank you.

 

[pipopaz]

It's just as seefizzle said, probably the government is pressured by the record industries and the like to do something about it, but the impact on the market is not quite clear.

 

[Riun355]

The best way to prevent piracy is to give readily available alternatives. But really, the whole issue has been blown out of proportion. And honestly, it's not like big movies and bands (the stuff you would actually pirate) aren't making enough money. It's like amputating a hand for stealing a bite of bread. it will only serve to bring the criminals sympathy, which seems a bit counterproductive, doesn't it?

 

[techsp10]

Actually what makes this one nonsense is that some of the government officials are supporting those media theft so that the officials could earn extra money. Also I guess it's better if the country will make use of the laws and power especially to the president that he will charge those medias who are committing piracy. It also includes a security especially in the internet.

 

[PaulWuzHere]

Same thing happened during prohibition. Alcohol drinking increased 10 fold due to the fact the government tried to ban it. Its human nature to want to do something "taboo".

Strict laws on something that is impossible to control isn't going to do any good.

 

[Nirkon]

I think its more because of the culture of the internet,
people think they are completely anonymous

 

[rskapadia2294]

laws dont help to reduce piracy! if u wanna stop piracy then stop those who upload pirated material on the net! ( dont stop them pls. )

 

[Richy2k9]

hello ...

i was 'for' & 'against' the hadopi law since the beginning.

PROS: would be a way to make thieves pay for their crime

CONS: even kids are at stake & can be sued over

like clrabbit said, it's better to ask politely & do the proper campaign to prevent piracy instead that imposing with a bull-dog voice not to do so!

with digital download in the rise, i'm sure some day it will be easier to control, but not eradicate piracy. the shutdown of major torrent sites may help

but will be easier if ISP would themselves filter & block the traffic. still may cost a lot.

music factory: provide us with more demos & the possibility to purchase one song from an album at a good price (seen some sites doing so already) & give some bonus to those buying either full digital albums (eco-friendly) & to those buying physical media as collector edition ONLY, let say with autographed cover, some lyrics & biography.

why don't you also add the donation thingy, it works! i've seen more people buying items that promised some form of donation to non-profit org that deals with human aid.

movies & gaming industries are becoming more & more digital, still a great idea, as for music, let's make all physical media a collector's worth item with more than just on-disc bonus, let say a free cinema ticket for next 'same editor' at the theater. the buy a DVD/Blu-ray & get the digital download free doesn't appeal to everyone (i hate this!), unless if it is a free digital download of any other movies by same editor then can be considered OK

the government, instead of 'big'brothering' the people, can instead go for open license policy & maybe (please don't hate me) impose a tax to all internet users for paying the licences & have local free distribution servers for people that don't want to buy expensive movies/music or games & would just download them & based on the statistics pay the authors accordingly. now if you don't want to pay the tax, you should allow often audit of your system & show proof of legal ownership of everything.

having local servers also would help drop international bandwidth usage & make it great for others.

well, a lot can be done, but mostly people must think that downloading illegal stuff, even if can't kill that mega producer or developer, can hurt severely smaller ones, so please don't do unto others, what you don't want others do unto you... for one day you may be the one being 'raped' as an artist or developer!

cheers!

 

[Guest]

"I think its more because of the culture of the internet,
people think they are completely anonymous"

Anonymous has nothing to do with it. Look at other "Laws" that have had the same effect over the years, drinking and smoking in minors; When I was a kid 80% of my middle school class drank and smoked Solly because they were sick of being told not to do it. Once they all hit the end of high school they all stopped smoking and a lot even stopped drinking, or at least the ones I still kept in touch with passed 21yo. The simple fact is "It's human nature not to like being told you Can't do something, regardless of if you wanted to do it or not."

A lot of good parenting books will tell you that as well.

 

[Guest]

"can hurt severely smaller ones, so please don't do unto others, what you don't want others do unto you... for one day you may be the one being 'raped' as an artist or developer!"

Thats very debatable actually.

As much of the smaller artiest are moving towards creative commons, and Open work based on donation, simply cutting out the middle man and packaging cost. So to artiest like these having your stuff spread like wild fire though P2P Means more URLS heading to your info and more fans that may donate, view ad's, and buy collective prints or other work.

Once people Pick "some" of your work on the File sharing side then they just come right to your site for all the new stuff which means more ad revue.

As a supporter for Creative commons, It really pisses me off when file sharing sites and places get in trouble for things the users do. There are MORE legal reasons for them then there are illegal.

ISP are there to provide Internet NOT FILTER it or be held responsible for other people, it's like blaming a library if some kid tosses a book at you or reads a bad word, sure you could sue to have all the books chained to the shelf to keep it form happening but then the Library just spent 90% of it's budget for new books on chains, and locking cases for strong language books. Or you can just shrug kids will be kids and move on with your life.

I'd much rather see ISP be forced to UPDATED there networks for faster service seeing as it sucks around here. Then see them pay the same amount for filtering and tracking crap.

 

[gobbybobby]

Poor people in France. Its like the government hates them, being drawn in my Corperate crap and here have 50 Million Euros and cut off all the software Pirates.

 

[slh28]

This law is a bit silly - of course if you ban P2P people will switch to megaupload, rapidshare and other direct download sites, which are pretty much impossible to trace and prosecute against.

 

[nokayapmat]

pirates will always be pirates regradless of official product prices by copyright holders...

and i agree with one poster above...it all boils down to providing a real alternative to piracy...

i once downloaded, installed, and used something from the net (mirror download) until i read from the official website of the program that the programmers/owners are just starting their business and they would like earn something and not lose to software pirates/illegal downloads...

i uninstalled my illegally acquired software and since then has gone legit...

 

[zyodei]

Copyright/IP laws are dead. They are a relic of a previous time. They don't protect content, and they create a lot of unintended consequences.

Instead of worrying about other people "stealing" from you, companies should be finding every way to monetize their content. The lion's share of the money will go to who justly deserves it.

Moves like this, unfortunately, are politically expedient for people who don't trust the Internet and don't understand technology.

 

[buendia]

I hope they got a lesson!
We humans always want want we can't have. It tastes so good Mmmm...
Instead, companies should encourage by other means people to pay for their products, offer some goodies for paying costumers etc. I know they can come up with some good stuff.

 

[bigclick]

Software has the shelf life of a banana. Would you buy an Adobe CS2 knowing that CS4 was coming. It's overpriced to begin with. I'M surprised there is not more piracy. I've had some great software rendered useless by faster clock speeds or FAT32 VS. NTFS. I don't know many software companies that once you pay for software ... will continue to give free upgrades.

 

[mistashizzle]

Pirates go so far to defend what they do. Just because huge blockbusters like Avatar and Star Trek make a ton of money doesn't mean that there aren't other movies that fall short. Also, imagine how much money some of these movies could make if everyone that watched them payed for them. Just because they're making money doesn't mean everyone is entitled to go and download it for free. For everyone that argues that they should provide an alternative, they do. Places all over the internet offer royalty free music and most games released nowadays can be downloaded online.

 

[Guest]

This is a shame!!! I think they ara going to produce VINYL again just to try to protect them against piracy!!!!

 

[ToastOz]

There are laws for just about everything these days, chances are you have already done something illegal today without even knowing about it. Most common one would be speeding or some sort of illegal traffic violation.

A Lot of piracy laws these days are mostly outrageous you always here about some granny who uploaded 20 songs and has to pay 20 million dollars worth of fines. Nice and simple argument make the punishment fit the crime.

 

[TorturedChaos]

As many people have already said, banning it and putting a outrageous fine on it makes people want to pirate more.