The French government is attempting to put into law a series of proposals for enforcement of copyright, which are officially known as riposte graduee (graduated response) but have been dubbed " 3 strikes and you're out!" The proposals were first put forward last November by the 'Mission Olivennes', and commission headed by Denis Olivennes, former head of the French retail chain called the Fnac. They are currently being put into law, known as the Project de Loi favorisant la diffusion et la protection de la creation sur l’Internet (the Creation and Internet law).

The French Senate approved the law on 29 October and the next stage is for it to pass to the Assemblee Nationale.

The French proposals will mean mass surveillance of Internet users by private corporations (entertainment and music companies who own large libraries of copyright material), who will look for users alleged to be downloading files without payment or permission. Warnings will be sent to thousands of users accused of copyright infringement (delivered by ISPs to their customers on behalf of the copyright owners) and penalties will include termination of Internet access.

The French government is also putting considerable pressure on the EU, to make changes to Telecommunications law - the so-called Telecoms Package - in order to support the Creation and Internet law.

My paper The French law on Creation and Internet – using contract law to squash file-sharing is available here.

There is a work in progress translation of the Creation and Internet law here.