For the average teenager, about the only thing worse than losing a supply of free, pirated music from the internet would be losing access to the internet altogether. That may happen under plans in France, and now in the UK, to make internet service providers responsible for stopping users who illegally download copyright material. But sanctions against users should only be allowed after legal due process.

The music industry is in pain: illegal downloads are devastating its profits. The film industry fears it will be next. Both have struggled to enforce copyrights on the internet, not least because of file sharing protocols such as BitTorrent, through which users can download a song or film directly from the computer of another user, who may have a legal copy. It can be hard to even find somebody to sue.