French Culture Minister Christine Albanel testifies in the French National Assembly in May about a bill outlawing Internet piracy.

If you are illegally sharing copyrighted material in France, be forewarned. President Nicolas Sarkozy wants you punished. On May 13, the French National Assembly passed a bill which is essentially a “three strikes and you’re out” act to suspend Internet access to anyone caught downloading copyrighted files three or more times. Combating digital crime is a priority for Sarkozy, and his government has taken note. What’s unique about this law? The enforcers, a new “high-level authority,” would require neither a court order nor a trial to take away violators’ Internet access for an entire year.

This bill is creating a stir in cafes from Calais to Marseille. It is also raising eyebrows around the globe as one of the most aggressive digital anti-piracy regulations ever conceived. And it looks like the controversy is just beginning. Producers of content, ranging from film to music to software, are hailing the bill as a monumental achievement. The European Parliament, as well as many civil rights proponents, is not so enamored.

A week before the French National Assembly passed the bill, known as HADOPI (Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Oeuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet), the European Parliament passed a measure banning EU member states from adopting such an amendment. They claim Internet access is a fundamental right, akin to freedom of expression and freedom of access to information.

Neil Turkewitz, executive vice president from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), sent me an e-mail with some of his thoughts. He writes that the sanction is not harsh because it is a graduated response. “The alleged infringer is given multiple opportunities to confront his or her accuser, and to either protest innocence or modify his or her practices. And not just once! No one has proposed that termination of a user account be the response to an allegation of infringement — just to repeated indifference to such allegations.”

Opponents say the “big stick” approach to illegal downloading has never been proven to work. Many insist the graduated response effort will do nothing to foster communication or bring royalties to artists or innovators.