French download law rejected.(World)

French politicians have rejected a bill that proposed that people caught illegally downloading music three times would be cut off from the Internet. The legislation, which had been backed by French president Nicolas Sarkozy as well as France's film and record industries, would have set a strong global precedent for Internet piracy.

Had it passed, the legislation would have operated under a three-strikes system. A new state agency would first send illegal file-sharers a warning e-mail, then a letter, then cut off their connection completely if they did it a third time.

The legislation failed due to warnings that the wrong people might be unfairly punished should hackers hijack computers' identities.

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