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French poised to track and take away Net over illegal use.

Assuming the government can be completely trusted (hypothetical), do you think this will have any real effect on slowing down Internet piracy in France?

No, it won't. In fact, it's going to be open to abuse, as people can, and will, find ways to circumvent it, leaving innocent people to suffer the consequences.

It'll be interesting to see how far this goes, as the EU has stated a three strikes law is not allowed.

Let's assume piracy is now at 100%. Would something like this reduce that number down to 20%?

As an average everyday pirate my options have become severely limited. Don't you think that will curb piracy?

As far as that other stuff you said, I don't think it is very relevant here as it has no effect on whether or not this will pass or on what the law actually is.

I don't have as much confidence in a government's ability to enforce it's punishments as you do Dargonxtc. Theoretically they could do all those things to keep you off the internet but that would require repeated overt offending that you get caught for each time and I think people that stupid deserve their punishment. The idea itself doesn't seem particularly outlandish though. People can have their drivers license taken away for example. But the internet is pretty much at the point of penetration that a well enforced ban would ruin people's lives/ability to work. Not that it's a human right to muck around on youtube, but for someone in an office environment it's significant to not be able to get your email.

As a compact view though, I'd say it could make a difference but only in a pretty draconian application that would anger a lot of people.

Did you know this industry has tried to push for an "internet music tax" to all ISP customers?

How are they going to determine all P2P isn't copyright material? Or if it is, that it was authorized by the artist?

And, for the record, your comment about "most" doesn't really apply, because if you really think about it, "most" take advantage from those savvy enough to "pirate".

Again, no. The biggest reason is that France, like the United States, hosts very little in terms of "pirated" content. Most sites reside in countries to which copyright laws are less stringent. Sweden, for example, used to be one (and still is to some extent).

Actually, it's much more relevant than you (and others) realize. Every day, the entertainment industry lobbies our government to pass ridiculous laws concerning "copyright". Since the other thread was locked due to this topic, I'll stop here.

I don't believe it was petty. It's an accurate description when he clearly overlooks the issue at hand.
For those living in France, I'd be questioning this.

France and the U.K. have been passing very questionable laws, and honestly, is very relevant to those here who live in these countries. I feel for them, as their government is acting like idiots.

Not that it's a human right to muck around on youtube, but for someone in an office environment it's significant to not be able to get your email.

As a compact view though, I'd say it could make a difference but only in a pretty draconian application that would anger a lot of people.

I think controlling net access through cell phones will present a huge problem, however again, I don't think many people use their cell phone to steal copyrighted material

Government is the one doing the monitoring.

It might work, but the net economic advantage for the French in doing this will be zero because of the "law of the conservation of money." You can't make what you don't have, so it's not like the French are going to magically become more wealthy because they take away people's internet for illegal usage.
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Anti-piracy laws don't do anything to create wealth. Those who cannot get for free will in most cases opt for not getting anything at all. I know to some of you that sounds like a good thing, but once again, no money is created by this.

How much waste will governments and lobbyists put into protecting the mere assignment of resources?

It might work, but the net economic advantage for the French in doing this will be zero because of the "law of the conservation of money." You can't make what you don't have, so it's not like the French are going to magically become more wealthy because they take away people's internet for illegal usage.

Perhaps the French will be the next country to start using encrypted P2P technologies and VPN's.

How much waste will governments and lobbyists put into protecting the mere assignment of resources?

If French artists are paid unfairly low wages, the artists would be better off making people aware of their plight and counting on the individuals to support them better and demand fairer practices on the part of distributors. Anti-piracy laws don't do anything to create wealth.

It serves no purpose at all if these laws don't benefit the intended party when the government has to spend so much money to institute such a monitoring system.

And... then... the worst footnote of all. Government is the one doing the monitoring. Can they be trusted with this?

The hypothetical way to stop internet piracy (I think) is to find a way to permanently shut down the internet entirely. That is, make it shut down so all the millions to billions of websurfers can't the net ever again. Pipe dream.