Eircom will prevent customers from accessing file-sharing websites in a chilling agreement with the music industry.
In a settlement between record companies EMI, Sony, Universal, Warner and Ireland’s largest ISP, Eircom has agreed to work with the record industry to combat illegal downloading.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), which represents the major music groups, is to begin compiling lists of web sites that it claims are damaging its business.
IRMA will then apply for a court order, requiring Eircom and other internet providers to block access to these sites.
Eircom will then not contest any court order, meaning that the requests are automatically granted. "We have said we would not oppose an action to the courts," said a spokesman for Eircom.
This is added to a previous settlement reached by it and the IRMA a few weeks ago in which Eircom agreed to implement a "three-strikes" policy targeting illegal file-sharing by its subscribers.
Using an "independent" company to monitor Eircom’s network for piracy, the record labels will provide the ISP with the IP addresses of users suspected of copyright infringement.
But, considering that the "independent" company will surely be on the payroll of the music industry it’s not likely to err on the side of caution when targeting alleged file-sharers.
Moreover, it’s a frightening proposition to think that private business interests can dictate what websites customers can and cannot visit, and is eerily reminiscent of "The Great Firewall of China."
Stay tuned.
jared@zeropaid.com
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CENSORSHIP won’t workjust look what happened in denmark.and people will use all means to bypass the IRISH censorship.PROXY AN D SO ON.
This is actually worse than the great Firewall of China. The Chinese censorship at least has some national unity in mind or at worse preventing negative discourse of Chinese politicians. This is instead a corporations dictating their rules to the people with no government involvement and no social responsibilities. This is analogous to giving PETA the right to dictate food standards.
And remember that BitTorrent trackers are used quite often for perfectly legitimate purposes.