The Sandspur

Issue date: 11/6/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: myspace.com DOWN, DOWN, DOWNSIDE: The Swellers pose for a publicity shot in Flint, Michigan.

In what is being called the "world's toughest anti-piracy law," a French high court has ruled to enact an unprecedented "three-strikes" policy whereby an individual caught illegally sharing or downloading music could face a banning and suspension of internet rights for an entire year. The law puts France at the forefront of increasingly drastic measures by recording industries to crack down on illegal music downloading that has spiked in the last few years along with Internet usage. It is widely rumored that support for the groundbreaking legislation by President Nicholas Sarkozy's sometimes-recording artist wife, Carla Bruni, was a key factor in the law's passage Oct. 22 in the French Parliament. The ruling does not only raise alarm in France, where the notoriously freethinking residents have predictably soured in face of the new legislation, but in the United Kingdom and United States as well, where similar legislation has already been proposed.

In America, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recently abandoned filing lawsuits against random individuals, a move that proved controversial and ineffective. Instead the industry is working with internet providers to allegedly give warnings to illegal file sharers and cut their access altogether if they refuse to stop. For the U.K., adapting a "three-strikes" policy identical to France's is inevitable and has garnered influential supporters and critics. British recording artists Lily Allen and James Blunt are two of the most prominent advocates of the internet banning, with Allen stating that it would benefit struggling singer-songwriters who lose the most from piracy. Equally prominent musicians Ed O'Brien of Radiohead and Latin pop star Shakira have been just as forthcoming about their opposition to the measure, the latter saying that illegal file sharing brings her closer to her fans. The point Shakira makes is a good one that has been argued by proponents of file sharing for years. Indeed, many factors, such as poverty or limited access to digital music, support this argument, and it has never been truer than in these economic times. Add to this the relative ease of illegal file sharing and it is little wonder that the recording industry has had such a difficult time combating the epidemic. The success of iTunes, Napster and of other legal file sharing sites is evident that consumer purchasing has shifted from record stores to the web and will not likely shift back. In reality, shopping in general has shifted to the internet, as has news and communication, transforming it into a necessary right in an increasingly technological world. Just ask the Finnish.

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