While New Zealand has decided to scrap its "graduated response" law and rewrite it from scratch, French legislators are pushing ahead to pass the Cr�ation et Internet law that would boot repeat file-sharers from the Internet for up to a year at a time. The Assembl�e Nationale has just approved the main bit of the controversial bill, and full passage could come shortly.

The Assembl�e is working through the many articles and amendments to the proposed law at the moment, assembling a complete package that will eventually be voted on in its entirety. The key part of the bill is article 2 (Google-translated version), which creates the High Authority (La Haute Autorit�) that will administer the rules and pronounce suspensions. Article 2 was today approved for inclusion in the final bill.

The High Authority, generally known by its French acronym HADOPI, will receive and evaluate complaints made by rightsholders about online file-sharing of copyrighted works. It will then issue warnings to ISPs, which are required to pass them along to the customer account in question.

After multiple warnings in a one-year period, HADOPI can (though it is not required to) sanction a repeat offender by cutting off Internet access from one month to one year. HADOPI will also maintain a blacklist, and sanctioned users will not be able to sign up for service with any Internet provider in the country during their time on the list. ISPs who refuse to promptly disconnect subscribers face a �5,000 penalty each time they don't take action.

HADOPI will also require that users secure their own networks (claiming that someone used your open WiFi router to download a file won't work), and plans to certify security software for use on home computers and networks. Such software, culture minister Christina Albanel confirmed this week, will be in constant contact with a central server in order to verify whether it is on or off at any particular moment.

The bill is hugely controversial in France, where it is sometimes compared to the Maginot Line or to Big Brother, but the political opposition comes mainly from minority parties. Once passed, the law could face some form of constitutional challenge; if approved, it would certainly be the toughest such law in the world.