France's "three-strikes" copyright enforcement proposal is slowly making its way into law, as the French Senate has now overwhelmingly voted in favor of the measure. The legislation received a massive cross-party vote of 297 for and only 15 against, leaving it to the French National Assembly to vote on whether to finally turn the proposal into law.

The three strikes system was originally introduced a year ago as a memorandum of understanding between the government, ISPs, and Big Content in France. Essentially, repeat copyright infringers would have their Internet connections revoked. Enforcement will be overseen by a new state agency called HADOPI (High Authority for Copyright Protection and Dissemination of Works on the Internet).

After France began entertaining the idea of "graduated response," as it is officially known, similar ideas have been discussed in the UK and Australia as well. The measure received the enthusiastic backing of the French Cabinet this summer, and the global music recording trade group IFPI has (unsurprisingly) applauded efforts to implement such laws.

Why "graduated response"? Because the penalties increase gradually in severity after each new offense. If users are caught downloading illegal content, they will first receive an e-mail from the ISP complete with a warning. The second "strike" comes when users are caught a second time after receiving the e-mail warning, at which time they will receive a written letter in the mail warning them to stop. If the same user is caught a third time, his or her Internet connection will be cut off for a year.

One conservative MPF (Mouvement pour la France) Senate member who voted against the legislation, Bruno Retailleau, argued that a full cutoff is too severe a punishment and that Internet access is now as essential to modern homes as other regular utilities. Retailleau said that the Internet helped families access social services, according to the EUObserver, and that it would be "traumatic for a family" to lose it. He added that cutting off households might even be considered discriminatory, as Internet access is usually tied to having a cable line or phone service, and that just cutting off the Internet would prove a difficult venture. Still, his views were clearly in the minority.

Assuming the French Assembly also votes in favor of the three strikes measure and the law is enacted next year, the French government could soon find itself at odds with the European Parliament. The Parliament rejected the idea of cutting off repeat offenders' Internet connections in a vote earlier this year, saying that members "want to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and those of consumers, and that big measures like cutting off Internet access shouldn't be used."

Parliament also called on the European Commission—as well as member states like France—to "avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness, and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of Internet access."

Although the European Parliament vote was nonbinding and member states may still move forward with their plans, it does illustrate just how controversial the idea of graduated response remains among Europe's political elite.