quote:

---

The French government revealed a newly-created anti-piracy body Friday that would have wide-ranging powers, including the ability to cut internet access to people caught illegally downloading movies or music.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the move — aimed at casual piracy and not large-scale piracy — was a "decisive moment for the future of a civilized internet."

Sarkozy said he feared the internet was becoming a "lawless zone where outlaws can pillage works with abandon or, worse, trade in them in total impunity. And on whose backs? On artists' backs." [...]

The anti-piracy effort was lauded by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the global interests of the music business, as "the single most important initiative to help win the war on online piracy that we have seen so far."

---