Another delay in Hadopi launch

WEB users who illegally download and share music and films will not be targeted by France's new anti-piracy body for another couple of months at least.

Hadopi general secretary Eric Walter said the first warning emails to illegal downloaders would now be sent "by the end of June" after the end of April target date was missed.

Once up and running, the anti-piracy body will send up to three warnings to illegal downloaders before the case is taken to court.

However, four government decrees still need to be signed that would make Hadopi's work legal, eight months after the initiative was approved by parliament.

The body has also yet to receive the stamp of approval from the French data protection authorities, which need to OK the procedure of automatically collecting and storing people's IP addresses. Hadopi said this could take "up to four months".

The body is also supposed to offer web users access to special software that will make their internet connection more secure - preventing users' networks being used for peer-to-peer sharing - however this software is not yet ready either.

Hadopi has, however, set up a Twitter account to keep people informed of its progress at insidOpi.

The body also has a new logo, after it emerged that the original one had accidentally used a font made exclusively for France Telecom.