Irish ISP Eircom Will Block Illegal File Sharing Sites

**chris** · 24-02-2009

Ireland's largest ISP and largest telecommunication group, Eircom, has announced that it will be blocking music file sharing websites following lawsuit threats from the Irish Recorded Music Association.

The IRMA said that they would sue ISPs which would not block websites such like Pirate Bay; it is understood that Eircom is the first one to have signed an agreement and could pave the way for Ireland to become the first European country to blacklist "hundreds" of file-sharing websites.

IRMA has drawn an extensive list of websites that it claims are ruining the music industry by providing free music tracks. Eircom will not oppose any request by IRMA which means that any site could potentially be blacklisted.

Eircom had previously bowed to IRMA's pressure and implemented a "three-strike and you're out" policy that would have disconnected customers found guilty of illegal file sharing three consecutive times.

Some like Alex French, CEO of wireless internet provider BitBuzz, acknowledged that Eircom's decision to block some P2P websites could set a dangerous precedence for the relative freedom on the web and could give rise to excessive web censorship

Source: itproportal

**mhku** · 24-02-2009

New Zealand are trying to bring in some new legislation as wel:

_http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2009/02/23/controversial-new-zealand-internet-copyright-law-delayed/

_http://www.geekzone.co.nz/juha/6247

The most controversial change has been the addition of section 92A, which calls for ISPs to terminate the accounts of customers found to be repeatedly infringing copyright laws via the Internet. Basically, if a person is accused of accessing file-sharing Web sites, they could have their Internet connection severed.

**rolfw** · 24-02-2009

This is opening up a can of worms, particularly as a user can be cut off purely on the say so of a copyright holder, leaves it wide open for abuse.

Also Google has become involved in another case involving Viacom:

Google made headlines when it violated its unofficial “Do No Evil” motto by setting up its users for a loss prior to its court date against Viacom. The claims made by Google before the court date were used against it, and ultimately against the users of Google’s property YouTube, when the judge decided in favor of Viacom

What did Google do prior to court to throw its loyal YouTube users under the bus? It declared that IP addresses did not qualify as personal data a while back when defending its own use of user data for its Adsense and Adwords programs. In saying that it was ok for Google to use that data, Google opened the door for outside companies to sue for access to it.

Users of Google all over the world cried foul at the court decision, and they also cried foul at Google. For a company that claims to have only the best interests of its users at heart it has made several decisions of late that call that into question.

***compufunk*** · 25-02-2009

If there is any truth in these articles, it seems like they are not ready to bend over for IRMA and the other involved parties just yet.

_http://www.pcworld.com/article/160114/irish_isp_we_wont_block_the_pirate_bay.html

_http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/eircom-no-pirate-bay-blockade-until-we-get-a-court-order.ars

While I see that they need to do something about illegal filesharing, I cant see how blocking sites like The Pirate Bay is going to help. There are always ways around these kinds of blocks.

They'd have a hell of a job blocking all the torrent trackers. Also, some file sharing is legitimate, so how would they differentiate between legal and illegal file sharing?

techie · 25-02-2009

the first step is always threats and scare mongering, then the trap is laid, either for the issuer or the defender.
Conspiracy theories avast!

***compufunk*** · 02-09-2009

Well..., I've just noticed it has happened. While browsing tonight, I was met with the following while arriving at _thepirat Ebay

.org

pirat Ebay

.jpg

Further info.
_http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0901/1224253590097.html

Aparantly eircon customers were blocked from accessing pirat Ebay

.org yesterday (Aug 31st 2009).

While I understand the concerns of copyright holders when it comes to file sharing, ISPs censoring sites leads down a slippery slope. The people concerned need to take another tac on thngs. If it can be digitally copied, it will be. Time to find another way of generating cash.

Its only paying lip service for any ISP to block an address.
Blocking a servers IP/DNS address achieves nothing when a person can just use a proxy server to connect anyway.

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