the only way to do this is as steve said .. monitor everyone's web usage .. and that's invasion of privacy .. however u look at it. this dictatorship policy is just another move to a big brother state and will not stop the d/loading of material. M. Sarkozy is helping big business not his people.

Mark, Edinburgh, Scotland

just forget it , it will never happen ,m sarkozy or what ever your name is , you work for the people not for the companys , if th epeople want to download they are free do to so .. pack your thinks if you dont like it, and change country .take your wife with you ,bye bye

manos, atlas, greece

unless they monitor everyones account then its going to be totally unenforceable , it will just make the downloaders use more clandestine methods such as encrypting all the downloads to that the isps cant identify the files

steve, birmingham,

Tom Lowe says "anyone can record and sell "

It's more accurate to say " anyone can record and have their work stolen!"

There's more to the "industry" than EMI and Robbie Williams - most musicians can't afford to be victims of theft.

Theft is wrong - M. Sarkozy gets my vote on this one

Bill Bennett, Watchet, England

Do they get a trial by jury, or has the law turned our rights over to Disney/Apple? Did we elect the web sheriff?

Finkle, Paris, France

Why is Mr Sarkozy so scared of the internet? There is a lot of interesting information on Sarkozy's past floating around the internet, I wonder if that could be the reason?

Steve, Birmingham,

The real risk here is that it would be quite easy to plant evidence of illegal file downloading onto a PC. How convenient it would be to use an existing copyright law to frame someone who has a blog or website critical of the gov't. Censorship in the guise of copyright protection.

Scarlett, Richmond, USA

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, being negotiated amongst economic powers (e.g. the EU) behind closed doors could force this across the world. Driven by the US, it may attempt to get things like digital locks imposed on DVDs. It would have to be adopted automatically by signatory states.

Michael Palmer, Lakenheath, UK

another example of big, bloated liberal governments combination of arrogance and ignorance, and laughably out of touch with technology. Just like with it's laws on hate crimes, France is a joke.

chris m, bernardsville, usa

In truth, there is no such thing as a 'recording industry': anyone with equipment can record and sell. Therefore I see no reason to protect a putative industry that is nothing more than a spoiled rotten dinosaur. The so-called 'recording industry' is nothing more than a payola ponzi scheme.

Tom Lowe, san diego county, USA

Let the recording "industry" die. Artists do not need it anymore. In a truly capitalist society an outdated industry that refuses to change will go under and be replaced.

Jose, New York, U.S.A.

The EU law states that in the case of a civil offense (downloading is a civil offense) the ISP does not have to supply the details of any one downloading or file sharing. EU law rules above French law so the French can not make any French ISP supply details of illegal downloading. Simple as that.

Phil Travis, London, England

Look at the old tape cassette. How many of us recorded music from the radio onto tape, or made a copy of a tape for a friend?

It's even easier to copy music in digital form.

jjm, london, uk

A box set of DVDs in the US: $25. Exactly the same DVD content in Europe:75 *Euro*. Maybe if the Govts/EU did more to prevent us Europeans being blatantly ripped off - we'd download less.
Oh, and that's ignoring the masses of content we can't even *buy* in Europe but is widely available elsewhere.

CC, Glasgow, scotland

This law is a good thing for Britain.
Since most of the people who work for IT download stuff, France's IT industry will suffer due to this law as people are fired due to not being able to use the internet.
Education, recruitment agencies, training are online.
All the talent will emigrate to London.

Andy, London,

Bad

Joseph Nation, London, England

i think this people are not understanding that no matter how much they do to stop this it will never end and the reason why is because people love what is forbiden
Look drugs, make it legal and u will see problem goes down

Martin Sparra, Springfield, US

From my house I can quite freely if required, (although I have no need to) access a number of neighbours internet providers. If this system was introduced to the UK what would stop me parking my car outside a pub or office with wi-fi access and then downloading illegal files?

Mike Jones, Farnborough, Hampshire

If Mr Sarkozy is truly interested in the rights of artists, perhaps he should confront the recording industry bigwigs who fleece artists for a living?

leon, auckland,

This law will only lead to another non-detectable means of downloading - What a shame it is to use enormous sums of money, & energy, to protect those who are already rich while those that really need our help go without. Imagine this energy put to use helping all those sleeping on every corner.

Lancelot, Tampa, USA

I think people need to re-read that article. The article mentions the loosening of copyright protection. That means more freedom for legit media.

Canada needs to drop Bill C-61, and give a serious look at this. I normally don't like the French, but this is a step in the right direction.

Joshua, St. John's, NL, Canada

I have hundreds of video files and thousands of music files on my 1 terabyte hard drive.

However I have personally downloaded less than 1% of this content - the rest has been transferred directly from friends' hard drives - a far simpler process which frankly this new law does nothing to address.

Patrick, Prague,

why is it that our governments are always willing to protect the rich and the powerful at any cost?
why is it that while it is not safe to go out at night our politicians are interested in such trivial things?

ebbi britt, valencia, spain

Mr. Sarkozy is short-sighted in his approach to regulating the internet. Illegal music/film downloaders affecting record industry profits aren't the problem - lack of systemic regulation, indexing, and copyright laws are. Perhaps his marriage is a sign of subversive abuse by record co execs.

Anne Hiltner, Hightstown, USA

brilliant idea I wonder what will happen with revenues if those banned will stop paying for the service or even better they will be forced to keep up the money flowing into the budget, I mean taxes, royalties etc while being banned.

robert, london,