Should the Irish police be burdened with getting a warrant whenever there is a suspicion of piracy? According to Dermot Ahern, the Irish Justice minister, the answer appears to be “no” as he pushes for tougher anti-piracy laws.
It may be a first in Europe. There is a new effort to combat piracy (it appears to be geared towards physical piracy) but what is being demanded may prove to be very controversial. All this is according to a fresh report off of the Irish Examiner.
While there are relatively few who support physical piracy, there’s also relatively few who would support circumventing the need to obtain a warrant whenever a crime is suspected to be taking place. It’s a recipe for heated debate if anything else.
The report says that 76,569 unauthorized DVDs were seized last year with 62,724 unauthorized DVDs already seized this year. While this suggests that current laws are already sufficient in stopping physical piracy operations, it apparently isn’t enough for the Justice Minister. From the report:
Harsh penalties for land or property owners who allow pirated material to be sold on their sites are also recommended.
Launching the inter-departmental committee report, Mr Ahern said the extent and sophistication of DVD piracy had grown hugely in recent years and was now operating on a quasi-industrial scale.
“There seems to be a casual assumption that the only victims of this type of crime are faceless international corporations, or millionaire movie stars. That is not the case.
“Ordinary employment and business livelihoods are threatened right here in Ireland, whether it is in the production of films, or their sale or distribution in cinemas and retail outlets,” he said.
While we are not familiar with what the stigma in Ireland would be whenever a political figure wants to eliminate the requirement of getting a warrant for anything, the idea is a complete culture shock to North Americans. This was clearly demonstrated by the fierce ongoing debates surrounding the warrantless wiretapping done by AT&T.
The casual observer will likely note that moves such as this has the potential to put a country onto a slippery slope towards unprecedented and frequently undesired police powers.
While potentially a very disturbing development, such a move happened a few months ago in the United States where the Motion Picture Association of America argued that evidence is not needed to convict someone of unauthorized file-sharing.
This latest move is quite a notable development in a country where the last controversy has been the long-running data breach controversy.
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