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Ireland's Largest ISP Settles With Record Industry

Posted by Soulskill on from the don't-encourage-them dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In what has been billed as a world first, four music companies and Irish ISP Eircom have agreed to work together to end illegal music downloading. The Irish branches of the record companies (EMI Records Ltd, Sony BMG Music Entertainment Ltd, Universal Music Ltd and Warner Music Ltd.) brought a High Court action against Eircom last March which has resulted in this settlement after eight days of trial. Eircom will be implementing a three-step process — informing a subscriber that their IP address has been detected infringing copyright; warning the subscriber that if they do not stop they will be disconnected; and finally disconnecting the user if they fail to heed the warning. Which technology they will be using to spy on their customers is currently unknown. EMI and the other record companies have recommended US-based Audible Magic, which (among other things) claims to block copyright violating web content from sites like Youtube and MySpace. However, digital surveillance is nothing new in Ireland and Eircom may have already tested and implemented the necessary technologies."

7 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Let' see how fast they will run out of customers by egnop · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since they probably will go disconnecting people very soon. And that will end up getting another ISP to get connected again.

  2. A comparison by peterprior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder how people would react if the postal service were allowed to hold envelopes up to a light, say "theres a CD in there which could have illegally copied copyrighted data on it!" and then after doing that 3 times, stop all mail to your house without having to provide any actual evidence or give you a chance to prove your innocence.

    1. Re:A comparison by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm sure a lot of people are going to respond to this comment with "But ISP's are private entities, not the government postal service." But the harsh fact is that most people have little more choice in their ISP's than they do in their postal service. Most people are like me. I have a grand total of two options if I want a broadband internet connection: AT&T's DSL service and Comcast's cable service. So basically, I can't anymore just "take my business elsewhere" (if I got banned for alleged piracy) than I could with the postal service. Getting banned from these two private entities would effectively cut me off from the internet permanently, with no recourse. That's pretty serious business in an age where your very livelihood can depend on the internet (particularly if you're a techie like me).

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  3. It's all a red herring by yttrstein · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Watch how fast https becomes ubiquitous. When everyone is encrypting everything, the RIAA will be utterly powerless.

    As they already are when it comes to any encrypted connection to any number of swarms or usenet servers.

  4. Re:Let' see how fast they will run out of customer by commodore64_love · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hope you're right. The fact the Eircom rolled-over in just 8 days demonstrates that these companies have no interest in protecting our rights. For them it's all about the money, and they obviously took the cheapest route of not fighting.

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  5. Re:Let' see how fast they will run out of customer by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The fact the Eircom rolled-over in just 8 days demonstrates that these companies have no interest in protecting our rights. For them it's all about the money

    Of course it is. It is not a company's job to protect your rights. A company's main purpose is to make money for its shareholders.

    Laws are what are supposed to protect your rights, because that company has to operate within the law. If the company's actions are an abuse, then the law should be changed (or enforced) so that this does not happen.

    Of course, I'm assuming you were referring to legitimate privacy rights here, not to a non-existent right to download material in breach of copyright.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  6. This is awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Think about it. The ISP is saying they are responsible for the content on their network. Now you can sue your ISP for wasting your resources on SPAM (especially all the illegal stuff).

    Or anything else like if your underage kid views porn. Oops, ISP you should have blocked that!

    Or somebody posts untrue comments about you in a forum from one of these ISP's. Forget about trying to find the person doing it, that's expensive and hard. Just sue the ISP into the ground!

    (same goes for Comcast and all those other companies that signed up to monitor their network; they can kiss their neutrality goodbye because now they are liable!)