European Countries Lining Up Behind Copyright Holders

The United Kingdom's House of Commons overwhelmingly voted in favor of creating a law that would enable copyright owners to seek the suspension of Internet service of those accused multiple times of illegal file sharing. The U.K.'s House of Commons voted 189 to 47 to pass the Digital Economy Bill, which also seeks to give the country's government the authority to block access to Web sites suspected of engaging in pirated material, according to The Telegraph, a British online publication.

The bill still needs to go back to the House of Lords, nothing more than a formality since that's where it originated. What this means is that some of the major European governments seem to be lining up behind copyright owners. France passed a similar law last October. It also signals that three-strike policies are how governments and media companies intend to protect copyrights.

Three strikes is the term used to describe the sending of multiple warnings to suspected illegal file sharers. Under such laws, after a certain amount of warnings, if the accused fails to stop (sharing copyrighted files) an Internet service provider can be required to suspend or terminate service.

I was reading about this a day or two back and its actually a pretty neat idea however, the practicalities of it are majorly flawed.

That being said, its nice to see it isnt just the U.S that doesnt have a grasp on how the 'interwebs' work.

Regards,

Lee