French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to endorse a new measure to help halt Internet piracy in his country, by which users who are caught illegally downloading music or movies could have Web access permanently taken away. The law would be aimed more toward repeat offenders in something of a three-strikes-you're-out format, but access privileges might be denied if as few as two warnings are ignored. Denis Olivennes, chairman of the French entertainment retailer Fnac, drew up the proposal, which has gained backing by both the record and movie industries in France. To help alleviate restrictions on copyrighted music, therefore lowering the temptation to try to obtain it illegally, the music industry has agreed to lift DRM protection from all content in the French archive and the movie industry said it would lower the screen-to-DVD delay from seven and a half to six months. Piracy is rampant in France, owing to the high download speed of their Internet services. www.fnac.com
