Irish ISPs rally against record label anti-piracy threat
Three strikes rule? Pshaw
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A coalition of Irish ISPs has rebuffed the music industry's attempts to force a "three strikes" disconnection policy on all of Ireland's major internet providers.
The ISP group sent an open letter to the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) on Friday, calling recent legal threats against them "spurious," stating they won't ignore established privacy law to aide the music industry's campaign against illegal music swappers.
In late February, IRMA sent letters to Ireland's internet service providers (and unrelated internet firms) demanding they implement a French-style "three strikes" rule and universally block websites the music industry claims give illegal access to copyrighted music like The Pirate Bay.
IRMA represents the "big four" labels: EMI, Sony-BMG, Universal, and Warner.
The letters warned that Eircom, Ireland's largest internet provider, had already agreed to its demands as part of an out of lawsuit settlement deal. Eircom also agreed not to oppose any court action taken by the labels in the future.
After weeks of silence on the issue, the Internet Service Providers in Ireland (ISPAI) released a statement of position saying they're under no legal obligation to follow IRMA's orders.
Privacy of user communications is protected in European and Irish legislation. ISPs can not be expected to ignore these merely because it does not suit another private party. To do so would breach the privacy of our users as well as having serious implications for the continued location of international e-business in this country and the jobs these generate.
According to ISPAI's website the org's members include BT Ireland, O2, Verizon Ireland, Vodafone, Clearwire, Google Ireland, UPC Ireland, and...Eircom. The letter states the ISPAI board of directors and general manager consulted with its members, who voted on a majority basis to approve the position statement.
ISPAI's letter says its members have never condoned the use of their internet services for theft of copyrighted material and will continue to operate "within the existing legal framework" to take actions where appropriate.
The group also adds this barb:
ISPAI is disappointed that the great potential of the internet, to provide opportunities to connect with users in new ways and develop new business models, is being missed by the music recording industry. The Internet has revolutionised countless other services where consumers have benefited from any-time accessibility, wider choice and reduced prices.
A full copy of the letter is available here (PDF). ®
COMMENTS
revolting users, IRMA, IMRO not Eircom's only problems
http://www.kerryman.ie/news/your-computer-is-at-the-mercy-of-hackers-1660476.html
For added irony, search for "Eircom" on The Pirate Bay.
Hooray
Fantastic news. I would have liked them to say a bit more, along the lines of
" ... Handing arbitrary and unaccountable pseudo-judicial powers to an unelected group of private individuals for the purposes of furthering their own personal financial interests is an abhorrence to everything we understand by the constitution of this country and an insult to democracy and we are disgusted by your repugnant attempt to twist justice to your own ends at the expense of the rights of the people and will resist any such attempt to undermine and replace our system of government with what would amount to a neo-feudalism ... "
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