By: Spacelab Research Staff

If you live in Australia, you could face being banned from the Internet if you get caught downloading music too many times.

Following on the heels of France and the U.K., Australia's Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) is joining with the Australian government to have Australian ISP's block Internet access for people that violate a three strikes policy.

"Under the three-strikes policy, a warning would be first issued to offenders who illegally share files using peer-to-peer technology to access music, TV shows and movies free of charge. The second strike would lead to the offender's internet access being suspended; the third would cancel the offender's internet access," reads a report in The Age.

Think of that in a future where everything will be integrated with the Internet: BANNED. You might as well be outcast to an island with no phone, tv, radio, contact with the outside world, etc. No biggie.

Yet to be determined by strong, clear, legal precedents: what illegally downloaded actually means. I'm sure this will get worked out later
though ...