French say non to pirates with year long ban

France gets set to get tough on Internet pirates as President Sarkozy tells his cabinet there is no reason why it should be a lawless zone. The HADOPI bill, if made law, will see persistent offenders being banned by all French ISPs. A new three strikes and you are out law being proposed in France will take the toughest of stances against those who download pirated music or video files: no Internet access for up to a year. A state agency has been established to enforce this. The High Authority for Copyright Protection and Dissemination of Works on the Internet, or HADOPI (Haute Autorite pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur Internet) for short.