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Irish ISP To Block Access To Pirate Bay

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it'll-happen-here-soon dept.

flynn writes "Ireland's oldest and largest ISP will be blocking access to The Pirate Bay from September 1st, while other ISPs have rejected the request to block TPB. From the Irish Times: 'Under an out-of-court agreement with EMI Records, Sony Music, Universal Music and Warners in January, Eircom agreed to cut off customers found to be repeatedly downloading music illegally. The deal also required Eircom to cut off access to Pirate Bay if requested. Yesterday, cable TV operator UPC, which has more than 120,000 broadband subscribers, announced it would not comply with a request to block access to Pirate Bay.'"

4 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Eircom alternatives by BigHungryJoe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Does Eircom have competitors that subscribers can switch to, or is it like the "free market" United States, where many of us only have one choice for broadband access?

  2. Incompetent idiots by oobayly · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmm, I've had to speak to them as they bought indigo.ie. When I called them to inform them that their smtp server (actually an eircom server) was having load balancing issues they suggested that I try webmail instead.

    Me: OK, I'll give the webmail a go for the moment, what's the address for it?
    Them: Umm, I don't know, google indigo webmail
    Me: OK
    Them: I've just googled it for you, it's the 1st result: something something dot indigo dot ca
    Me: That's a Canadian TLD, how's that going to help me?
    Them: <Silence>

    Good luck to them, you couldn't rely on them to arrange a piss up in St James's Gate.

  3. Whack a mole by Blackhalo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So they are blocking the one torrent site that is pretty much self-destructing on it's own? I guess it could set a precedent for when the **AAs show up with entire domains and IP ranges they want blocked, but the sharing will just move to an anonomized format or into clustered cells of private peer groupings.

    It has been my experience that the web does a very good job at routing around damage, and moves much more quickly that some trade association with an antiquated business model.

    --
    "There is nothing to do it. But to do it." -Floyd Pepper
  4. Re:How do they determine "illegal"? by murphyd311 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's more like putting up road barriers to a couple of city blocks because the street is known for prostitution and drug dealing. Even if it has legitimate businesses.