The Luck of Lucien

Yo, "-Tip", what's wrong with Snails?

Today, the French government signed an agreement with content industries and ISP providers, where a centralized authority will receive complaints from content owners and will send messages via ISPs to end users infringing copyright. (Financial Times article; New York Times Article.) Under the agreement, ISPs will issue warning messages to internet users allegedly downloading files illegally. If users ignore those messages, their accounts could be suspended or closed altogether.

According to French President Sarkozy, this is "the advent of a civilised internet". The roots of this groundbreaking effort are in the Olivennes Commission.

What does this mean for private enforcement of intellectual property rights, like the USA's "notice and take-down" requirements under the DMCA?