French court pays file-sharing site to publish infringement convictions
A court in Nanterre, France has paid French file-sharing site Numerama 10,000 euros to publish details of 27 people convicted of copyright infringement.
Numerama runs pro-file-sharing news and views in French and has campaigned openly against the controversial Hadopi legislation. The money is likely to be spent on enhancing the site's services to file-sharers.
The court has made the order on behalf of the entertainment companies who brought the cases against the convicted infringers. The aim is to 'educate' Numerama's visitors as to the consequences of illegal file-sharing.
The information Numerama is to publish includes the names and addresses of the people involved along with details of the crime they committed and sentences received.
Unwilling to take money from what it sees as its opponents, Numerama has been asking its visitors how it should spend the money to promote the cause of file-sharing.
Under Hadopi - named after the government agency that would have enforced it - internet users accused of downloading material that infringes copyright would have been given two warnings and on a third offence their internet access would be disconnected for up to a year by their ISP.
