The legal broadside, released Thursday, eliminated fines imposed for file sharing

However, the law did carve out a lower level of punishment for copyright violations, noting that copyright infringement is different from stealing tangible property.

A little more worrisome, however, is that the council took out the lower levels of punishment, saying that personal copying really is no different than professional counterfeiting -- which doesn't make much sense. Either way, we're actually back where this whole process started. Folks who are caught sharing music or movies in France may now face jailtime and huge fines. So much for the consumer "revolution" there.