HADOPI or the fight against illegal downloads

The Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet, or HADOPI, is a body tasked with combating illegal downloading. Over the past few days, it has sent ISPs a number of requests to identify Internet users accused of illegally downloading illegal content. HADOPI is currently in the running-in phase.

Warnings ahead.

The HADOPI has given ISPs eight days from the date of receipt of the identification request to provide them with the personal details of Internet users suspected of illegal downloading: surnames, first names, postal and e-mail addresses. All suppliers who refuse to comply with HADOPI’s requests will be liable to a category 5 fine of 1,500 euros.

For their part, offending Internet users will receive an initial warning message from HADOPI. This is just a warning with no untoward consequences. But from the third warning onwards, repeat offenders risk heavy fines and connection suspension. The HADOPI law allows Internet users caught in the crosshairs to submit their comments to the High Authority.

False warning emails from HADOPI

For some time now, Internet users have been complaining about receiving warning emails from HADOPI. These messages ask Internet users affected by piracy to pay a certain amount online in fines. However, according to the Secretary General of this organization, these e-mails are false, since the dispatch is imminent but not yet effective. For greater precision, he announces that the real HADOPI warning message will be nominative and will not ask for personal information, bank identification or passwords. Nor will it encourage users to visit any secure website. A model warning message will be made available to the public before being sent to pirates.

All messages that deviate from this model will be considered spam sent by spammers with the intention of phishing. The authorities are also drawing the attention of Internet users to the possibility of spammers imitating HADOPI emails: header, content, subject, sender and even an IP address of convenience to bypass spam filters.

Threat of raid on future HADOPI website

HADOPI plans to set up a website to inform Internet users about the organization’s activities and actions. Although the site has yet to see the light of day, it is already under threat of a denial-of-service attack. A leaflet published in English under the title “call to arms” has already been circulating on the Internet for a few days, announcing the intention of anti-HADOPI Internet users to render the site unusable by DDOS attack. For this pirate party, HADOPI’s actions infringe their fundamental freedoms.