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"Irish SOPA" Signed Into Law Despite Resistance

First time accepted submitter cupantae writes "Despite the protests of over 80,000 Irish people, Junior Minister Seán Sherlock has confirmed that the controversial statutory instrument that reinforces online copyright laws in Ireland has been signed into law. The statutory instrument will make it possible for copyright holders to seek court injunctions against companies such as internet service providers or social networks whose systems are hosting copyright-infringing material. This comes in the wake of the music industry bullying the Irish government."

39 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. London remake? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Time to see a rehash of the London riot, Irish style?

    1. Re:London remake? by robthebloke · · Score: 4, Funny

      The London rioters were U2 fans.

  2. Re:WHAT CAME FIRST ?? THE COMPILER OR ITS SOURCE ? by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Informative

    The source, of course. In assembler. That's how the first compilers were made, and later rewritten once they were able to compile themselves.

  3. Sucks to be Irish... by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just what they didn't need. "No Shit, Sherlock"...

    --
    -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
  4. Re:The luck of the Irish. by Fluffeh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They must have taken that decision after a few pints of Guinness...

    No, just a junior minister who wants t become a senior minister. Having heavy pockets like those behind his campaigns will certainly help getting that little blister re-elected.

    --
    Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
  5. Right.... by SraL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now check his bank account for a mahusive cash deposit.....

  6. this isn't the half of it by amalek · · Score: 2

    Lads there will be a referendum coming in May or June where we'll have to decide if we take a bailout from the Rothschil- sorry, the IMF - and sign over our independence to the cabals that have already destroyed the US. Keep an eye on this one.

    1. Re:this isn't the half of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The referendum will pass. If citizens make the wrong decision, they'll be asked again and again until they return the correct choice. The Irish will do their duty. It's a nation that lives to be dominated. They get rid of the English, only to replace them with the Vatican. Only recently have the Irish begun to question their Catholic masters, and now they'll allow bankers to run the show. The same political parties that fucked the country remain. Sherlock did thus because he knows that most people won't give a fuck. This law is nothing but harmful for a country looking to encourage hi-tech industry. Sherlock blames the EU, when its not even clear that the EU requires this provision. And putting such legislation through without debate? Yeah, way to represent your citizens, ÂSherlock.Â

      Everything will be fine. The boys can have a few jars, sing some rebel songs, and perhaps believe that they deserve the country that better men fought for.Â

    2. Re:this isn't the half of it by TheLink · · Score: 2

      The corporations and friends will keep trying to push their laws in. There are zero/insignificant penalties when they fail.

      There's no "I already said NO, if you ask me one more time you're grounded!" regulation.

      --
  7. What a shame by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What a shame it is that 90% of the public are so complacent and unwilling to take action to protect their rights from the goose-stepping content cartels.

    Imagine if, even if just for a month, *nobody* bought any music from members of the RIAA, nobody went to any theatres to watch movies from the MPAA, or bought their DVDs or even hired their DVDs.

    Can you just see the look of absolute fear that would envelope them?

    Even if we could find enough people to reduce their sales and rentals by 50%, that would send a very strong message that perhaps, when it comes to copyright "it's better the devil you know [filesharing] than the devil you don't [boycotts]"

    Unfortunately, any move to organize a campaign of abstinence or a boycott would be doomed to failure -- because most people just don't give a damn anyway.

    We get the government (and the storm-trooper tactics) we deserve they say. Maybe they're right :-(

    1. Re:What a shame by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Considering this is happening in Eire one might find it kind of sad given this very famous quote:

      "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." -- John Philpot Curran: Speech upon the Right of Election for Lord Mayor of Dublin, 1790. (Speeches. Dublin, 1808.) as quoted in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations

      --
      -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
    2. Re:What a shame by KozmoStevnNaut · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't know how much of a difference it'll make, but I won't be buying any music, movies or books in March. Not a single CD, DVD or paperback, nothing. Not even a download of any kind.

      Probably won't make a big difference, but it'll sure make me feel better.

      --
      Eat the rich.
    3. Re:What a shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'll be torrenting for everything I need. The music and movie industries are busy taking away my rights. I see no reason to respect theirs. Screw protesting, free stuff is better.

    4. Re:What a shame by crutchy · · Score: 2

      there's always plenty of free porn

    5. Re:What a shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That sends the wrong message too. There is plenty of DRM-free stuff available for purchase from hard working artists, independent film and record labels etc. .. that's the stuff we should all be buying.

    6. Re:What a shame by CyberB0B39 · · Score: 2

      Everytime I head a story like this it just energizes me to try to screw these companies out of as much money as possible. I joined Swapadvd, Swapacd and Paperbackswap and have decided to never buy a new DVD, CD or book ever again. http://www.swapadvd.com/ http://www.paperbackswap.com/ http://www.swapacd.com/

    7. Re:What a shame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't know how much of a difference it'll make, but I won't be buying any music, movies or books in March. Not a single CD, DVD or paperback, nothing. Not even a download of any kind.

      Probably won't make a big difference, but it'll sure make me feel better.

      Well, since you (and others) will not be buying anything, it will reduce revenues for the MAFIAA companies. This drop will be shown as evidence that piracy is happening and that even more draconian laws are needed.

  8. 80,000 is not enough by metrix007 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ireland has a population of about 5 million.

    If only 80,000 protested then that means the majority is either OK are at least apathetic towards the legislation.

    In that case, there is nothing wrong with it going ahead. The problem lies with the rest of the population who didn't do their part to protest, not the government passing a law.

    Yet another strike against democracy.

    --
    If you ignore ACs because they are anonymous - you're an idiot.
    1. Re:80,000 is not enough by Phrogman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sadly democracy relies on the bulk of the citizens actually keeping appraised of various issues, having the education and intelligence to really make an intelligent decision and then actually acting upon it by at least electing representatives that represent their opinions - and keeping a leash on them to ensure they don't waver from the path.

      Most people don't care at all until a government does something they don't like - and by then its way too late.
      They won't notice until someone abuses this legislation to take down some website they care about with no recourse, no warrant and no time in court.

      Sad to see Ireland sell itself to the big Media corporations like this. So much for all the years of struggle for an independent Ireland.

      --
      "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
    2. Re:80,000 is not enough by Hentes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Only a small fraction of the population is politically active enough to protest against something. Show me one protest that consisted of more than 50% of the population. That doesn't mean that the remaining 6120000 people would vote for the law in case of a referendum.

    3. Re:80,000 is not enough by NewtonsLaw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't forget that the public generally only knows about the things the media tells them about and -- in the list of SOPA sponsors there are a huge number of big media players -- all eager to use it to protect their content.

      Hence, we've seen very little (if any) objective mainstream media coverage of SOPA and what it will mean to the average joe citizen.

      Unfortunately, the real power to shape the minds and opinions of the masses lies in the hands of the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the other media barons.

      We're stuffed mate!

    4. Re:80,000 is not enough by Mitreya · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The problem lies with the rest of the population who didn't do their part to protest, not the government passing a law.

      No, no. The problem lies with politicians operating on an assumption that any legislation is ok as long as 50% of people aren't protesting on the street. Elected politicians are supposed to represent the population. It's their job.
      What is sorely needed is an easy mechanism to initiate a vote of no confidence (and if 51% vote to recall, politician immediately gets removed from post and banned from running for 2 years). If a legislation that pissed off a lot of people had such potential consequence (and SOPA appears to qualify), politicians would be so much more careful in what they vote for. As it stands, by the time they are running for re-election 2+ years may have passed...

  9. Why? by Kupfernigk · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Last time I heard, Sony, Warner and the like weren't British. The IRA would do anything to placate the USA so long as the funds kept coming. They would have signed this bill into law like a shot - and then made money out of blackmailing the ISPs (nice little data centre you got here...wouldn't want it shut down by Sony, would you?).

    Modern Sinn Fein, on the other hand, is quite a different matter, and is trying to build up an electoral presence in Ireland. Quite honestly, given the levels of corruption in both Fianna (epic) Fail and Fine Gael, they would most likely be a major improvement.

    One recent Irish Taoiseach was so bent he had no bank account. He kept everything in cash in his house. He got his bribes by going to the racetrack, where he was always very lucky. The Rothschilds are not to blame for Irish corruption, nor is the IMF. If the Rothschilds really ran Ireland, it would be prosperous. You can't make money easily in a country full of poor people.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
    1. Re:Why? by amalek · · Score: 2

      I disagree. It's standard tactic of that House to indebt governments because such loans are always backed by taxes on the people. If there Rothschilds really DIDN'T run the place, it would be prosperous. This is their MO.

  10. "Irish SOPA" Signed Into Law... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is begging for an "Irish SOPA -> Protests -> "Irish Spring" joke.

  11. Black March by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's called Black March. I think a better awareness campaign would have made it more popular but essentially, it's about not buying or downloading any media content for the month of March in order to make a dent in the entertainment industries profits. Check it out!

  12. Sad Day by zg3409 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's a sad day for the internet in Ireland. Yes there are ways around censorship, but the more governments try to control the internet the more they damage the whole point of it. Remember censorship is considered a fault by the internet and it automatically attempts to re-route the traffic. It will also affect jobs as no-one will want to set up a site based here, nor on Amazon's european cloud, which is based here, for fear they could be taken offline by some wide ranging vague complaint by rights holders, which we have already seen overstep their ability to actually remove actual content. Of course rather than remove content based in Ireland they will also attempt to block foreign content. Not ideal if you want to do business worldwide

  13. irish resistance? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    We all know that a huge chunk of the irish population lived with machine gun fire and regular bombings for breakfast right? bring back the IRA, but not as a religious segregation movement. as a populous uprising. without the violence. just make very bad copies of the belongings of those who want rich americans rights more than populous opinion. make copies of cars, and houses. but the copies be so poorly executed that they are on fire. and delete originals :)

  14. Re:Peaceful declaration of independence by crutchy · · Score: 2

    fuck off!!!!!

    we're the People's Front of Judea, and if you wanna join the PFJ you'd ave to really 'ate the corporations

  15. I thought the Irish were keen on the tech industry by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2

    The last time I visited, they were digging a trench across the entire country to put optical fibre in ; we drove alongside it for quite a stretch.

    Now watch the sudden departure of internet companies from Ireland....

  16. Oh well by firefrei · · Score: 2

    Democracy doesn't work. But it's the best out of a shit selection of (tried) options for ruling a country. Sometimes I'm not saddened if normal folks aren't aware of such laws - why would they care? At this stage they'd only seem like trivialities compared to the actual problems most people have in their lives.

    --
    I remember when Linux was good... too...
  17. Economics 101 fail by Kupfernigk · · Score: 5, Interesting
    You don't get it, do you? If the people are poor, there isn't much tax revenue to raise. The idea is to get Governments into debt because they have a source of tax revenue and can continue to pay the interest. Therefore, the country as a whole needs to make plenty of money to pay the taxes. Since the rich avoid or evade taxes, that in reality means a prosperous middle class.

    Rothschilds actually got going by realising this and placing the sons of the founder in the capitals of countries that were rapidly becoming rich. They had headquarters in places like Vienna, not Nebraska. They lent the British Government the money to buy the Suez Canal, which was a conduit for trade, thus (a) profiting from the loan and (b) profiting by lending to promote trade.

    This is what is fundamentally wrong with Walmartonomics. Walmart pays as little as possible. But, to succeed, it must have plenty of people to spend money in its stores. In effect, it wants a shit economy so it can get a cheap workforce, but really it wants a high wage economy to maximise its income. This kind of works if for "Walmart" we substitute China, and for "High wage economy" we substitute "The West". But what happens when all countries have been dragged into the mire? No markets, that's what.

    Ireland, Italy and Greece are in trouble because the Governments borrowed and the taxes weren't paid, either through evasion (Italy and Greece), through "avoidance" schemes (Ireland) or because also the Governments had lied about the actual GNP (Greece). This actually wasn't the fault of the bankers, but of greedy and corrupt politicians.

    As I say, if Rothschilds really ran Ireland, they would do it on the principle that the best way to produce milk is to start off with well fed cows, not to start off with starving cows and demand more output for less grass. In national economics, the Old Testament is actually a much better guide than an MBA course.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
    1. Re:Economics 101 fail by DwoaC · · Score: 2

      You don't know what you are talking about regarding Ireland. While I am sure "avoidance" happens in Ireland as in any country the reason the tax take collapsed (for the most part, many books will be written about Ireland in the coming years) was the collapse of the construction industry which shrank in size by over 50%. Considering it was the largest part of the tax income this had a major impact on the country's budget. Join that with the 100 billion plus that was given in bailouts to the bank and you see why the Irish economy collapsed. Nothing to do with "avoidance". Using Ireland for "avoidance" costs other countries tax but actually adds to Ireland take.

  18. Bullying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Bullying the government". I almost fell off my chair. Come on now. Are we really expected to buy that the outcome was the result of "bullying" rather than accepting a bribe?

    Let's call a spade a spade here. When government accepts a bribe, government is 100% responsible. There is no benefit of doubt. There is no "but". Government holds the keys to oppression, not the music industry. Government has the guns.

    1. Re:Bullying by Rakarra · · Score: 2

      A bribe is when you give money to government officials in return for favorable legislation.
      Bullying is when you cut off current trade agreements and routes unless government officials give you favorable legislation.

  19. Re:The luck of the Irish. by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, just a junior minister who wants t become a senior minister. Having heavy pockets like those behind his campaigns will certainly help getting that little blister re-elected.

    Irish politics and election campaigns do not work like that.

    Generally, candidates who stand for election have their campaign paid for largely out of a general party political fund. You can get operatives like Bertie Ahern and a few independents who have their own separate funding structure, but in general people fight for party electoral nominations as they are the ticket into the Dail.

    From here, the path from a back bencher to the top generally goes:
    TD - > Junior Minister (a made up position with no constitutional weight) - > Minister -> Senior Minister (esp.Finance Minister) - > Taoiseach -> Scandal -> Retirement.

    It is important to note that none of these steps requires a significant war chest beyond that provided by party political funds. It requires networking, skull-duggary, deals with rogues, backstabbing, ruthlessness and charm, but at no stage in the process after TD does someone need to schmooze the general public with a marketing campaign. At most they simply require a personal PR advisor (The last Taoiseach Brian Cowen, apparently didn't have one).

    This isn't to say that money isn't involved, with certain Taoisigh being notorious for getting their palms greased before and after the office. But getting to the top in Ireland does not require massive personal funding, particularly corporate funding. Yet.

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  20. Re:This might be a good thing. by WhyNotAskMe · · Score: 2

    I'd view this with a healthy dose of suspicion. I'm in Canada. We are a small country population-wise, and subjected to bullying in trade negotiations by our neighbour, the USA. We are eternally pressured to enact stronger copyright laws for example.

    One fine day, our government decided we needed to update our copyright laws. They sought broad public input. Now we are at the point of passing these new laws. Wouldn't you know it, though they consulted broadly, in the end they simply ignored any input that did not correspond with their hidden agenda. It was all a sham. Their hidden agenda was dictated by the US based corporate lobby. Even worse, after going through that process, at last minute they now want to sneak in new provisions that weren't even discussed, like DMCA laws. Worse yet, we don't have the fair use laws here that make the DMCA laws palatable in the US.

    The bottom line is, this is probably what you can expect in Ireland, and is what has already happened in countries like Australia and New Zealand. We just cannot defend ourselves from Yankee Imperialism.

    The problem begins in the USA, and it must be solved there. We must give our American friends who are fighting against this our full support.

    WhyNotAskMe.org

  21. And... by kelemvor4 · · Score: 2

    It will be good for the rest of the world, as I'm sure if there were any Irish based Social Networks or Hosts of any kind they're feverishly working to move out of Ireland. Pity that ISP's will probably be screwed since they can't realistically leave and still service Irish customers.

    Welcome to the Irish internet circa 1995.

  22. For the artists by 10101001+10101001 · · Score: 2

    For those who support the idea of copyright, SOPA is on its face wrongheaded. Again and again, legislation is enacted or pushed to be enacted "for the artists". It makes me think of all the times similar wordings "for the workers" invariable is designed to benefit companies. I thought it was well understood that trickle-down economics doesn't work. It's not enough to find ways to give companies, IP based or not, more money through tax breaks or longer/stronger copyright terms in the hopes they'll decide to pass some of those benefits down to the actual people behind the work. Unions as they are obviously aren't enough if the government is so concerned that it keeps pushing for more, global copyright treaties and laws.

    If there really is an actual interest in the worker, why aren't laws written that actually benefit the worker? Eliminate de facto work-for-hire. Set a minimum wage and benefits for artists. Create a government initialized organized, yet artist paid and run, legal pool for dealing with things like contracts with companies for their work, pursuing piracy by both companies and end users, etc. I'm certain there are other ideas which would promote the arts and sciences by encouraging artists to produce, so investigate that and enact further laws to that end. In essence, where's all the talk about actually improving productivity and benefits? Why is the question of piracy framed in whether Disney's profits go up or down by 0.1% instead of whether there's enough animators producing good work and whether their pay is going up or down and whether it's deserved? Acting upon monolithic companies is clearly doing no good, but is it any wonder when democracies and business don't tend to like a government that deeply meddles with the inner-workings of an economy? At the same time, how can using a broad stroke and a giant club really have a directed effect?

    Maybe that's just macroeconomics? :/ I don't really know enough to say.

    --
    Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h