Chris Dodd Targets Piracy During CineEurope Address

AMSTERDAM -- On the day when the Motion Picture Assn. took British Telecom to court to force it to block access to an alleged film piracy site, MPAA chairman/CEO and Senator Chris Dodd made fighting piracy the focus of his address to industry execs at exhibitors convention CineEurope.

"This is no time for philosophizing, the unbiased truth is that our content is bring stolen every day all over the world," said Dodd, arguing that the movie industry must work to educate the public on the dangers of piracy while pushing governments around the world to "take a hardline approach to the suppliers of illegal content."

Dodd singled out France's controversial three-strikes rule, which cuts off Internet access for users who repeatedly download material illegally, for particular praise.

"They are leading the way with this courageous, comprehensive new law," said Dodd.

But the senator cited similar tactics across Europe, including new anti-piracy legislation in Spain pending laws in Italy and the recent German-led raid earlier this month that shut down notorious piracy site kino.to.

The movie industry took its efforts to crack down on copyright theft in Europe to a new level on Tuesday with its suit against U.K. Internet provider British Telecom. In a U.K. legal first, the MPA is moving to force BT, Britain's largest online provider, to block its customers' access to Newzbin, an offshore site the MPA accuses of being of one of Europe's largest piracy sites.