Japanese companies plan to cut off the Internet connection of anyone who illegally downloads files in one of the world's toughest measures against online piracy, a report said yesterday.
Faced with mounting complaints from the music, movie and video-game industries, four associations representing Japan's Internet service providers have agreed to take drastic action, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.
The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said service providers would send e-mails to people who repeatedly made illegal copies and terminate their connections if they did not stop.
The Internet companies will set up a panel next month involving groups representing copyright holders to draft the new guidelines, the report said.
The music industry won a first-of-a-kind victory in a US court in October when a single mother in Minnesota was ordered to pay more than US$220,000 for sharing 24 songs online.
The Yomiuri Shimbun estimated that 1.75 million people in Japan use file-sharing software, mostly to swap illegal copies.
One Internet service provider considered a plan two years ago to disconnect people who swap illegal files, but dropped the plan after the government said it may violate the right to privacy, the Yomiuri said.
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