10% of piracy warning recipients re-offend in France

French anti-piracy authority Hadopi has released figures on how many warnings it has sent over its first four years of operations. Since sending its first warning notice in 2009, Hadopi has sent 3,249,481 first warnings to Internet subscribers – just under 9% of all Internet users in France. France operates a ‘three strikes’ rule in dealing with online piracy. Hadopi claims it sent 333,723 second phase warnings, meaning just over 10% of those sent initial warnings go on to re-offend.

Only 1,502 subscribers had received a third warning up to July 1 this year, 0.45% of those who had been sent a second notice. Of those who reached their third warning, 116 cases went before a judge. 1,289 had their cases examined by Hadopi’s committee; most received a further warning.

After receiving a warning, 31,379 subscribers phoned Hadopi. The authority reports that 35% “spontaneously agreed” with the accuracy of the facts in the warnings, with less than 1% challenging them. Around a quarter of subscribers engaged or offered to take measures to avoid content being made available from their connections in the future.

In the last six months, approximately 72,000 users have accessed an information video on the Hadopi website, while 49,000 looked for information on what to do after receiving a warning.

A small poll carried out among recipients of warnings found that 73% did not shift to another method of illegal downloading. However, Hadopi also stated: “Receiving a warning does not result in a massive shift towards legal offers.” Only 23% of respondents said they went on to use a legal service.

Source: Music Week