Piracy Rises In France Despite Three Strikes Law
Written by Ernesto on March 09, 2010In the first few months following the adoption of the three-strikes anti-piracy legislation in France, online piracy has increased significantly. Instead of stopping, file-sharers are seeking alternatives to bypass the new law. Perhaps even more striking is that new research reveals that disconnecting file-sharers will actually hurt the revenues of the music industry.
September last year saw the passing of France’s controversial three-strikes ‘Hadopi’ law which allows the music industry to track down repeated copyright infringers with the ultimate goal of decreasing the country’s piracy rate.
Under the new law alleged copyright infringers will be reported to a judge once they have received three warnings. The judge will then review the case and hand down any one of a range of penalties, from fines through to severing the Internet connection of the infringer.
Proponents of the new law claimed that the law would convince millions of people to stop downloading copyrighted content through file-sharing networks. Most critics, however, doubted the effectiveness of the system and pointed out that there are many ways to circumvent the law.
A new study published by the University of Rennes shows that the critics are indeed right. The researchers looked into the habits of downloaders before and after the law was implemented. They found that instead of reducing piracy levels, the piracy rate actually went up by 3%.
This increase in piracy shows that the French are not changing their downloading habits much, despite the tougher legislation. There is, however, an interesting shift in the sources people use to download copyrighted movies and music. At an increasing rate the French are using streaming services along with file-hosting ‘cyberlockers’ such as Rapidshare and Megaupload.
These services are not covered by the Hadopi law and therefore ‘safe’ to use. Conversely, usage of P2P services such as BitTorrent dropped from 17.1 percent to 14.6 percent between September and December last year. Overall the research seems to suggest that the looming disconnection threat has changed how and where people get pirated content, while the piracy rate itself increased.
Another remarkable statistic uncovered by the researchers is that half of all P2P users who download copyrighted content also buy digital content online. This means that if these users were disconnected from the Internet under the new law, the music industry would lose customers and thus revenue.
The overall message put forward by the research seems to be that it is hard to deter people from copyright infringement when there are plenty of alternatives to bypass the legislation. This does not only hold for the French case but can also be applied to the UK and other countries where tougher anti-piracy laws are implemented.
The answer to the increasing piracy rates worldwide is not legislation. Instead, the entertainment industry may accomplish much more by innovating and expanding their online business so that it meets the demands of today’s digital consumers.
Previously: Dutch Pirate Party Joins Election Race
Next: Music Group Gets Court Injunction Against UseNeXT
64 Responses
We all knew this would happen…
lmfao!!!!
I have noticed a rise in French only content on oneswarm that I am guessing can be contributed to this as well.
1, 2, 3 and your out! Oh wait you were a paying customer, shit!
boicote music industry
let them bleed
and die
Screw the music industry! Download your music for free or buy 2nd hand CDs.
@5 – No, that’s not right, either.
Pay for what’s good.
Pay for what’s fairly priced.
Do not pay for things you cannot buy.
Pay for things you like.
That’s pretty simple, right? Keeps -everyone- happy.
Reasonable pricing + quality + good distribution = drastically reduced piracy.
cyberlocker/vpn ,, works for me ;)
The brave Gaul village is still resisting the Romans!
I’m sure people will continue to share copyrighted material and Jesus probably thanks you. If it wasn’t for piracy, the bible would have never went worldwide. http://www.shareReactor.com
:D Baai x
I wonder what is a good place to get software? I tried hexagon, but it is not so good lately.
Wow! Lets hope The Gay Lord (Lord Mandelson)has a re-think of his pre-posed plans for a Digital Britain.
These members of the French race
Got a finger wagged in their face
So they up and went
And were quite content
Getting content from some other place
“I’m sure people will continue to share copyrighted material and Jesus probably thanks you. If it wasn’t for piracy, the bible would have never went worldwide”
What a ridiculous and ill concieved statement.
Also seeing as this study was merely asking people what they did (as opposed to monitoring with consent to show what they actually do) I highly doubt the figures veracity.
Particuarly the point about buying digital content – it doesn’t make sense that people would do this if they can pirate it.
Clearly the solution to this problem is banning filetypes.
@15
Your shit.torrent.retard
Madelson re-think – like that is going to happen.
@14 What a ridiculous and ill concieved statement. , but its true…
Online Piracy Becomes a ‘National Sport’ in France
http://torrentfreak.com/online-piracy-becomes-a-national-sport-in-france-081107/
Hopefully the other countries are competing :-)
to be precise, the Hadopi law has been voted, but has not yet been implemented, as the French government yet has to publish a few bills which will make the law complete. Until then, Hadopi law is not in effect.
The main problem for the French government is defining the specifications of the mandatory software that people would have to install to prove they have not violated the law. I think they’re starting to find out how ridiculous the idea is in the first place, and have no idea of what to do now.
#20 barsanuphe: “I think they’re starting to find out how ridiculous the idea is in the first place, and have no idea of what to do now.”
So, in other words, they’ve outlawed everything non-Microsoft-ish, because their Troyan will (of course) be Windows-only? Wow! Way to go, french lawmakers. ;)
If they offerend content for reasonable prices on the net I would be willing to pay. It cost more to download the songs on a cd and burn it yourself, than it does to go to the store and buy it. By downloading, there is no production cost, no cut going to the retail store, no shipping fees. Why does it cost so much then????????
It’s just greed, which makes me want to download more and buy less.
the entertainment industry may accomplish much more by innovating and expanding their online business so that it meets the demands of today’s digital consumers.
how many times has this been said but totally ignored? before it happens, everyone will be seeing the flying, pink pigs going by and i’ll be a millionaire!!
i can see a torrent site ran by the music industries, 50 euros for 50 gBs of flac mp3 and whatever the consumer wants.
The studio releases 1 release on one seedbox, and the users will do the rest, using a points based, ratio based tracker.
the distribution is done by the users, so they can stay on site longer for less money.
like what or waffles, the users will take the content and change the formats, and so on…
it should be drm free.
global releases at the same time.
and studios working with each other, not on corrupt ‘most favoured nation’ clauses, or price fixing fiascos, but to GIVE US WHAT WE WANT.
and we will pay happily.
could make a top ten alexa site in 3 months with the cooperation of all the studios.
flat rate for all even the indies.
after all money comes from the popularity of the music/marketing.
Get ticketmaster in on the act.Special tickets and the odd concert only for members of this amazing site.
forums for merchandise and discussions, aguments and appraisals.
even some user – artist questions from time to time.
there would be money and media hype by the tonne.
no politicians to lobby/pay/buy.
no angry masses to manipulate/scare.
just good old fashioned business.
#21 me: actually, this is spot on: during the discussions at the French National Assembly, MPs from the left wanted to add an amendment making sure this mysterious, undefined piece of software would at least be OS independant. Government: amemdment denied, to “protect and enable consumer choice”.
yes, I know, it makes no sense.
since i run Linux, that probably means if i ever am required to install this piece of crap (which is likely, the number of false positives from Hadopi is going to be gigantic), I’ll have to run it though a virtualbox machine (which will only do that, hence happily report my IP address is completely innocent).
Hardly a surprise, and reminiscent of what happened with Sweden: laws can cause pirates to back off for a while, but in the long run they have absolutely no effect. If a law makes no sense, they shouldn’t expect people to respect it.
This is exactly why The Dark/Gay Lord Mandy’s ill-conceived Bill won’t have any lasting effect. Hell, I’ll make *personally* sure that idiot’s plans don’t have any effect, in the name of all that is good and democratic.
By the time they finally realize what we want, something new will come and they will say: “See? We told you by adopting P2P and such it wasn’t going to work.”
This is what i like to see.
I think everyone but the music industry is laughing very very hard.
I’ve heard there was a place in the US that a law stated it was forbidden to die. It’s basically the same with those useless copyright laws. I dunno the details on how the study was conducted by the university mentioned but the figures seem to be in touch with the reality. The massive majority of the people I know download illegal content but they also buy legal stuff even after they already got it from the net in many cases.
Anyway, Hadopi started as a failure infringing copyrights from a font so it’s no surprise it’s already failing and it will still fail after it gets the final approval. MAFIAA never fails in providing us with spectacular failures… HAH!
Oh, and that mandatory software is just a joke. You got Linux you are safe hahahaha. Seriously, of all insanities and idiocies I’ve heard till now, a mandatory software that is platform dependent is one of the most amusing hahahaha.
@ 14 Mar 09, 2010 at 18:45 by Bongo: it doesn’t make sense to you because you belong to the group that doesn’t buy at all. For me it makes sense and that’s what I do. I buy what I can, what is good and what has sane prices. I don’t buy an entire album for a single song, I don’t buy crappy content and I don’t buy overpriced stuff (specially when they want to shove $1.40 digital tracks down my throat).
Why is it all the useful information on the internet is free and all the stuff thats just to entertain us is way over priced? 3 strikes and you are no longer able to google medical or technical info. Gotta feel sorry for the french.
*facepalm*
Doesn’t surprise me one bit
Praise God!!!
On gnunet, there are more Frenchies, too now. Very good!
I wonder how ACTA will affect these stats.
@Bongo
Yeah, seriously. Next thing you know, these silly pirates are going to be telling us that heavier-than-air vehicles can fly. It just doesn’t make sense that someone who stole some bread would later buy some milk.
@35 by Black Swan Social Media, Inc. Now here is a crazy thing I have to tell you, last week my 19 year old son asked me for a film that I had downloaded and watched , I was about to bin it but put it to disc for him to watch at the last minute, a couple of days later I asked him where it was he had lent it to a friend I was a bit miffed but all theses teenagers can be a bit cheeky sometimes, anyway he and his friends were out in Liverpool on the Saturday and a bit bored he says so they all went to see a film you will never guess what they went to bloody see the same flipping film two of them had already had of me!, I said why did you go and see the same film lad he said cos I new it was funny and good dad and I new the lads that hadn’t seen it would enjoy it like I did because I had seen it hadn’t I, so in a nutshell then six teenagers paid six quid each to see the film that had been recommended to them because of my download, I MADE A £36 POUND SALE FOR THE BLOODY MOVIE COMPANY ! ##BOLLOCKS##
There have been a few studies demonstrating that downloaders spend money on physical media. People who download have an interest, which leads to spending money on legal purchases. People who dont download dont have an interest in the media, so dont buy products.
Not all non-downloaders, so dont go jumping down my throat, but numerous surveys amongst tech savvy groups have shown correlations between downloading and spending money.
For some reason the RIAA and friends dont spread this around.
The more we need to spend hiding our identity (VPN, Usenet, Rapidshare) the less we’ll have to pay for the real stuff. They can keep making tougher laws, but we’re not running out of countries that can safely host VPN anytime soon.
Bongo said: “Particuarly the point about buying digital content – it doesn’t make sense that people would do this if they can pirate it.”
It makes perfect sense actually. Ready for it? Not everyone acts the way you want to believe. Ta-da! All downloaders are consumers one way or another. Yes, I download AND pay for stuff. Shocking, isn’t it? Like the industry, you probably prefer things to be black and white because that makes it easier to comprehend. Sorry, but the world is more complex than that. Stop walking around thinking you have it all figured out, because you obviously don’t.
Now if someone would just gather all the researches made during the years, check for bias (who payed for/ordered them or was it independent) and compare the results. Seems to me that most researches by universities have pro-filesharing/culture spreading outcomes and researches by private companies paid by the copyright lobby are against. Of course that is obvious, but statistics are always nice :P
I think the result’s should be what the civilized people of file-sharing community know already; people buy products if the product deserves it. As do I.
If a movie is good, I’ll go to movies to see it again or buy it. If a game is worth playing through and price is reasonable, I’ll buy it. Simple as that. For music I already use Spotify premium, though the record labels should piss off and let the artists have the money.
In the immortal words of Nelson, “Ha, ha!”
HA…HA…HHAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!!!!!!!!!
Did they really think the ISPs would be eager to ban their own PAYING CUSTOMERS from their service just because the MAFIAA wanted them to???
It’s about time the ISPs–and everyone else–start seeing the MAFIAA for what they are: worthless shiite who don’t exist for the benefit of anyone except themselves. This world will be a much better place when they go extinct!
Ah Ha! That’s what you get ADOPI for using a logo MADE WITH COPYRIGHTED FONTS!!! hahahahaha
Come on frenchies, téléchargez!!
The entertainment industry is a useless worse than nazi industry, it has to go away, we don’t need those parasites.
Their petty attempt at making a global worse than nazi totalitarian tyranny will fail miserably.
With dising piracy and the ignoring of the anti-pirating laws, French Parlaiment surrenders!!!
`This means that if these users were disconnected from the Internet under the new law, the music industry would lose customers and thus revenue.`
Not just only the music industry, but the every other online industry.
`This means that if these users were disconnected from the Internet under the new law, the music industry would lose customers and thus revenue.`
Not just only the music industry, but the every other online industry.
I find it amusing that in their rush to protect their greed and power by corrupting governments, Big Business was actually slashing their own throat.
Politicians involved, 3-strikes-laws and threats of increased enforcement…
Still isn’t working, is it Neo/Reasoned?
The police state cannot stop piracy. The best chance they have is on DC hubs (to gain evidence of substantial infringement)… but with torrents, it’s a shitload of minor infringements that are hardly worth taking to court individually.
I’d like to see some investigation into the relation between Anti-piracy attempts and the supposed drop in sales.
I have a feeling that sales started to drop right around the moment that the studios started sueing!
@Bongo
You’re stupid.
When ever I think of the French government, I think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.MeHaha
“the French are not changing their downloading habits much”
Oh NO we’re not !
“If they offerend content for reasonable prices on the net I would be willing to pay. It cost more to download the songs on a cd and burn it yourself, than it does to go to the store and buy it. By downloading, there is no production cost, no cut going to the retail store, no shipping fees. Why does it cost so much then????????
It’s just greed, which makes me want to download more and buy less.”
You have no idea.
There’s:
Server Costs.
Energy Costs.
Bandwidth Costs.
Labor Costs(Yes the Admin that has to keep the Servers running).
So all in all the only difference is that you may get things faster with less quality(MP3 VS PCM), period.
I think other countries need to pass three strikes legislation too…
…because we must share MORE and that’s such a good incentive. ;-)
@#55
What decade are you living in? Bandwidth is dirt cheap nowadays. A few admins making $50-100k/yr isn’t exactly a prohibitive expense for a large entertainment company either. There is no way the cost of online distribution even comes remotely close to the distribution of tens of millions of physical records worldwide… The profit margins on digital media must be enormous. I think few people can dispute that the days of the entertainment industry, at least in its current form, are numbered.
http://www.comedya.net
Three strikes policies encourage it more than discourage, if you didnt download because you are unaware of how easy it is not to get caught, that warm fuzzy feeling of getting 2-3 chances before getting ultimately “busted” will make people go out and download more.
New music? In 2010? Some people must be kidding. Most stuff nowadays is computer generated crap from a couple of templates made by a couple of ‘geniuses’ who make money because of their carefully created public image. People who spend more time with gossip reporters, fake fights and fake addictions than they spent time in the studio’s. Old school artists are fading away, some famous people now play for small audiences in small towns, selling CD’s themselves.
I stopped listening to the radio years ago. It’s the same with the TV set, gone. Didn’t miss the spam, reruns, previews and shear emptiness for a second. No TV, no radio here. I do have my CD collection complete, most of it bought, quite a few bought twice or even more because of scratches on that ‘indestructible wonder of technology’, but I listen to downloaded MP3s. Occasionally I start a play list on Youtube or one of the many music services and sometimes I just listen to an internet radio station.
We hardly buy games anymore because we’ve had enough with registrations, DRMs eating resources, the need to be online constantly, the errors with DRM and bugs in games that are not patched. For applications, there are excellent freeware/open source alternatives and web2.0 web apps available for just anything.
As for movies, we watch movies first before we decide to buy them. That’s because it happened too many times we ended up buying crap. Even great actors and great directors make crap every once and a while. Fine, but I don’t want to spend a dime on something we don’t even watch until the end. For the movies we did buy we keep a pirated copy that we start. We’re completely fed up with warnings, warnings and warnings we cannot skip. Pirated copies just run without nagging and bugging. We even have some games where we play the pirated versions while the official versions live on the bookshelfs, never installed. Because of DRM and registration crap.
ACTA is a joke. In the eighties we had people crying that the tape recorder meant an end to the industry. In the early nineties it was the floppy disk and a bit later it was the CD writer. In the 2000′s it was the internet itself. It was a lot of tears. And guess what? Nothing. Most people just buy stuff they want. Some people don’t. That will never change. The only thing that does change is that honest people are getting more and more annoyed with companies who try to get every buck they can while ignoring the fact that every extra buck costs two bucks due to missed sales.
It’s time the industry wakes up and it’s time politicians and law makers wake up. It’s not 1970 anymore.
This is exactly like the Streisand Effect. Trying to suppress or silence it only makes it more widespread and popular.
In the Wikipedia entry on the Streisand Effect, John Cleese of Monty Python fame notes on the controversy and protests surrounding their movie, The Life Of Brian:
“originally, the movie might have gone into 200 movie houses, and once the protests started, it was soon decided to put it into 600. So it is wonderful when people embark on a course of action that they can really achieve something so totally counterproductive…obviously if you don’t want people to see a movie, the thing to do is to just let it quietly die away, get a tiny little review on the movie page, and nobody knows about it. But if you do want to make a success of a movie…you want to get people cross and angry and protesting. It’s extraordinary”
Similarly, when the MAFIAA shut down Napster, it only made piracy spread even more. The French law has also had the opposite effect to what was intended.
DRM is like this as well – look at the recent examples, such as Spore (most pirated game ever) and Assassin’s Creed 2 (DRM cracked in less than a day).
anything say
Fenixius (#7) nailed it.
Additionally, it’s physical product production, distribution and attendant speculative financing that has been made technologically obsolete. I purchase from artists that self-produce/distribute or, more commonly, work on labels that pass a high share of revenue to the artists. Especially if the artist regains eventual control of copyright and/or has a contract allowing them control over parallel retailing channels. It’s non-artist copyright retention and, much worse, the aftermarket copyright brokerage industry that kills musicians and their relationship to listeners.
I am going to download all the SXSW music.. Is that piracy lol?
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