Word: musicalization
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...that critics call a Big Brother-like attempt to police people's Web activity. Introduced by Sarkozy's Culture Minister, Christine Albanel, the bill seeks to enlist Internet service providers (ISPs), entertainment-industry organizations and French legal authorities in an effort to identify and dissuade illegal downloading of copyrighted music and video. A monitoring agency would send Web users who illegally download media a cease and desist notice. Should two warnings go unheeded, ISPs would be forced to cut Web access for one to 12 months - and add the user's name to a blacklist of pirates, where it would...
...last November. That deal sought to stem the enormous losses studios and their stars suffer to online piracy. But critics claim ISPs have been coerced into the drive by the organization representing French copyright holders. The pact was negotiated by the head of one of France's largest music and video retailing chains. Detractors of that move include opposition politicians, consumer groups and even France's ethics watchdog on new technologies and communication. They claim that ISPs have been forced into a heavy-handed alliance of industry forces that want to protect the interests of Sarkozy's celebrity pals...
...This bill is serving an archaic fairy tale up to artists, but in reality is an authoritarian sleight of hand," says Socialist legislator Christian Paul, who adds that the music and film industry has to face the reality of the Web today. "It's a bad text with lots of problems, and which opposes performers and Internet users," says Patrick Bloche, spokesman for Socialist Party legislators in parliament...
...Sarkozy's conservative supporters counter that remaining soft on Internet piracy will lead French artists to rapid ruin. Within the past five years alone, French record companies have seen sales plunge by more than 50%, mostly because of illegal music downloading. Polls indicate that more than one-third of French people say they have downloaded and exchanged copyright-protected files at least once. Entertainment-industry organizations say about 450,000 illegal downloads take place in France each day. That has cost French musicians and studios about $10 million in royalties annually over the past five years. That loss of financial...
...Perhaps. But France isn't the only country considering such punitive action. In January, Irish ISP Eirecom struck a deal with record companies under which it would ban clients who were found to be illegally downloading music. The U.K. is also contemplating forcing ISPs to disconnect customers tied to online piracy as part of its push to make broadband access universal by 2012. In Brussels, meanwhile, debate rages over the future of network neutrality - the degree of free and equal access to the Internet. Governments and business interests want the ability to increasingly filter its use. (See the 50 best...