Japanese ISPs have agreed to disconnect filesharers who persistently use popular peer to peer program WinNY to pirate music, films, and software.

WinNY is based on WinMX, and has been reckoned to be the most widely-used filesharing application in Japan. Now under pressure from government and rights holders, the country's four ISP associations have agreed to implement a system of warnings and disconnections very similar to the three strikes regime being pushed in the UK.

Daily Yomiuri Online reports that rights holders will alert ISPs when they detect their customers' IP addresses participating in copyright-infringing WinNY networks. If the customer ignores warnings to stop, their internet connection will be suspended or ceased.

Japan's move makes it the third nation after the UK and France to move towards an anti-copyright infringement arrangement between ISPs and the music, film, and software industries. The three strikes idea originated in the UK, as then-intellectual property minister Lord Triesman told (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/09/lord_triesman_copyright_interview/) El Reg in January.

On Friday, Swedish politicians also indicated measures against filesharing, although reports (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080314/ap_on_hi_te/sweden_file_sharing) suggested the courts will be involved in forcing ISPs to cooperate, rather than a voluntary agreement.

More on the Japanese scheme, which reportedly covers the country's entire ISP industry, here (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080315TDY01305.htm). ®

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