""The plan has been drawn up by French retail exec Denis
Olivennes. It will see signatory ISPs - including France Telecom,
which owns Orange in the UK - hand over information on heavy users
of file-sharing networks to a new enforcement body which will
formally warn them to stop. If they persist, their connection will
be cut.
"But not content with penalising French Internet users, and
chilling creativity in that country, Sarkozy seems determined to
bend Europe to his will (the infection has already spread to the
UK).
"First, attempts were made to sneak an obligation to impose the
"three strikes and your out" approach (rebranded as "graduated
response") into a complex and irrelevant EU telecoms package. The
European Parliament, to its credit, pushed back, and added several
clauses to preserve fundamental freedoms, like the right to
judicial review of any attempts to cut Internet access."
