French teacher fined for file-sharing

A school teacher in France has been fined over 10,000 euros for illegal file sharing.

Identified only as Alexis B, the teacher will also have to pay the costs of publishing adverts outlining the judgement in two of France's leading newspapers, Liberation and Le Parisien.

The teacher is not the first European to be fined for uploading music onto file sharing sites - usually known as peer-to-peer (P2P) sites - but the fine of 10,200 euros is one of the heaviest yet to be imposed on European file sharers.

The man was found guilty of illegally downloading and then making available 30GB of files, which equates to a massive 10,000 songs or 614 albums. The decision to place the adverts detailing the conviction is aimed as a warning shot across the bows to other users of P2P sites to act as a reminder and deterrent.

The move by the entertainment industry towards suing file sharers in Europe mirrors the ongoing legal blitz by the US Recording Industry Association of America begun in September 2003 and more recently legal moves by the Motion Picture Association of America.

The UK arm of the recording industry, the BPI is currently pursuing 26 people it alleges are guilty of illegal file sharing. A spokesman for the BPI would not be drawn on any legal action being taken in the UK and said: "Our position is still the same and we are currently in negotiation with these people."

John Kennedy, Chairman and CEO of the European recording industry trade body, the IFPI said: "We take no pleasure in resorting to lawsuits against illegal file-sharing, but we are encouraged by this French judgement. This sends out a clear message to all those who think they can get away with the illegal mass distribution of music files on a P2P network: you are not immune, you are not anonymous and there are consequences.

"Music is widely available to buy legitimately online, if you want to avoid the risk of a fine it's easy, download legally".