It has been two years since the French Government instated Hadopi, an agency enforcing the French Three Strikes law. Last Wednesday, the agency released some figures reflecting the efficacy of the agency during that time. 

In the last two years, Hadopi identified over 3 million IP addresses, by requesting ISPs to give out user information of IP addresses, associated with downloading of copyright protected content through P2P networks. Of those 3 million IP addresses, 1.15 million received a first warning for pirating content. 102,854 users received a second warning and 340 users received a third strike. If the third strike is ignored, Hadopi can take legal actions, which can result in fines up to €300,000, - and 3 years imprisonment. 

Eventually, Hadopi filed cases against 14 users for copyright infringement, all of which have yet to go to trial. Mireille Imbert-Quaretta, President of the Commission for Rights Protection (part of the Hadopi agency), says these numbers proof Hadopi’s success.

In addition, about 6% of the people who received a first warning, have contacted Hadopi to either request information or discuss their case. This number increases to 75% when a third strike was issued. Since one of Hadopi’s objectives is user education, this can be seen as a successful development. 

Even so, the new French Minister of Culture, Aurélie Filippetti, is not convinced of Hadopi’s success, which might result in budget cuts for the agency, or even shutting it down. Especially in regard to their goal to provide more legal content, she feels that Hadopi has fallen short. In the next couple of weeks, Filippetti will announce her decision regarding the future of the Hadopi agency.  

Read more about the French Three Strikes rule on Future of Copyright:

• New French Minister of Culture highly critical of HADOPI and France’s anti-piracy policy
• French Three Strikes Act seems to be successful
• French Three Strikes: half a million warnings sent as First Strike

Sources: Ars Technica

Written by: Nathalie Falot