Three strikes rule has 'halved piracy' in New Zealand

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18953353

The rule allows fines of up to NZ$15,000 (£7,600) to be issued to illegal downloaders caught three times.

The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (Rianz) said 2,766 infringement letters had been sent out.

But the group has called for the cost of sending letters to be cut.

A handful of users in the country had suffered a third strike, TVNZ reported, but none had appeared before the Copyright Tribunal.

However, Rianz reported a significant drop in piracy levels - its data suggesting the incidences of top-200 movies being viewed illegally went from 110,000 in August to 50,000 in the following month, when the rule came into force.

But it added that the number immediately "plateaued", and noted that four out of every 10 internet users in the country still accessed pirated material.