Irish ISP to Block Illegal Music Downloads

January 30, 2009 By Geoff Duncan

In a settlement with record companies, Irish ISP Eircom has agreed to shut down users who illegally download music from the Internet.

Irish Internet provider Eircom has agreed to a settlement with the four major record companies—EMI, Universal, Warner, and Sony—that will have the ISP shutting down users who are downloading music illegally from the Internet. Under the agreement, record companies will supply Eircom with the IP addresses of users they believe are illegally distributing music via P2P applications or other services; Eircom will give the users two warnings, and if the actions persist, shut down the accounts.

The move may be the beginning of a sea change amongst ISPs, who have historically argued that they just provide connectivity, and aren’t responsible for policing customer’s actions or monitoring content transferred via their networks. Record companies and other content providers, however, have increasingly been pressuring major ISPs to act as traffic cops, monitoring data flowing to and from users in an effort to clamp down on copyright violations.

Eircom’s settlement with the record companies is in lieu of the companies’ initial demand that Eircom install software on their network that could identify copyrighted content via fingerprinting technology. The case had been at trial eight days before the settlement was announced.

As part of the agreement, the record companies have pledged to “take all necessary steps” to put similar agreements in place with every ISP in Ireland.

In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently abandoned its practice of filing lawsuits against individuals believed to be engaging in illegal file sharing, and is instead working with major ISPs like Comcast and AT&T to reduce piracy.

Showing 5 comments

cormac at 8:35am 2nd February 2009 I am currently an Eircom customer but will not be for too much longer. Dont say shame on Ireland for this. Just wait and see how much money Eircom will lose. The Irish are a clever bunch and eircom will get what they deserve. No more business
Steve Purdham - We7 at 10:18pm 1st February 2009 To take such a heavy-handed approach towards filesharing is, in my opinion, counter productive. The solution to illegal filesharing is good legislation, education and adoption of new legal digital models such as We7's ad funded business.

Steve Purdham
http://www.we7.com
John at 5:21am 1st February 2009 "The Internet's a single wire that delivers freedom of speech, of assembly and of the press - it's a conduit for civic engagement, health care, employment, education, distant family, love and life. Disconnecting people from the Internet on the basis of an unsubstantiated accusation, without a court order, without a chance to defend yourself against your accusers, without a chance to see and challenge the evidence - it's positively medieval. Shame on Ireland â– so much for their high-tech economic miracle."

-Cory Doctorow
Jamie at 4:00pm 31st January 2009 Small wirelss isps like airwire will profit big time for this.

ALSO HELLO! i like my privacy! why should they be allowed to look at what I AM DOING!
Sean at 11:13am 31st January 2009 "As part of the agreement, the record companies have pledged to "take all necessary steps" to put similar agreements in place with every ISP in Ireland."

I'd like to see them try. You can guarantee there'll always be one rouge ISP that everyone will flock to. Did we learn nothing from the Napster debacle?

This is Eircom commercially shooting themselves in the foot. I hope their profits plummet for such stupidity.