“A French government crackdown on digital piracy has backfired because lawmakers rebelled by endorsing amendments to legalize the online sharing of music and movies instead of punishing it. The vote last week by members of France’s lower house dealt a setback to Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, who introduced the draft legislation… Under the original proposals, those caught pirating copy-protected material would have faced $360,000 in fines and up to three years in jail. An 11th-hour government offer to give illegal downloaders two warnings prior to prosecution was not enough to stem the rebellion. Instead, the amendments voted would legalize file-sharing by anyone paying a monthly royalties duty estimated at $8.50.”