Categories: Web

Record companies want to control what we access online, Irish Government obliges

EMI Ireland's time would be best spent innovating rather than pursing draconian-style policing policies

Threatened by legal action from EMI Ireland, the Irish Government has agreed to publish an order next month, “plugging a gap” in Irish copyright law and effectively allowing record companies to restrict access to whole websites in Ireland as they please.

Minister of State for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation Seán Sherlock has promised to publish an order in January 2012 that would allow copyright holders to seek court proceedings against internet service providers (ISPs) to force them to restrict access to certain websites that could potentially facilitate the illegal pirating of music and films.

EMI originally highlighted this “loophole” in Irish law (depending on your perspective) in October 2010 when, in a High Court bid, the company failed to force UPC to filter network access to particular websites – Mr. Justice Peter Charleton stating that such injunctions could not be enforced under the Copyright Act in its current form.

Willie Kavanagh, Chief Executive of EMI Ireland, mostly blames illegal downloads and not massive changes in how we consume media over the last number of years for sharp declines in group revenues. Kavanagh claims €60 million in lost revenues over the last six years as a direct result of illegal pirating.

If ISPs are eventually forced to prevent access to sites like The Pirate Bay or Kickass Torrents, there are of course easy ways to circumvent such restrictions with free software and services like Hotspot Shield and Hide My Ass!

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

  • @thesociable @siliconireland I'm no fan of clunky govt legislation, but are you suggesting illegal downloading isn't an issue?

  • @thesociable @siliconireland I'm no fan of clunky govt legislation, but are you suggesting illegal downloading isn't an issue?

    • @ciaranj It obviously is an issue but blocking off certain parts of the internet for all is no the way to combat piracy

    • @ciaranj I think we're stepping into dangerous territory by allowing the internet to be filtered in anyway

      • @darrenmccarra I quite agree. But the tone of that article seems to suggest that there is no issue; that record companies are making it up

      • @darrenmccarra I quite agree. But the tone of that article seems to suggest that there is no issue; that record companies are making it up

      • @darrenmccarra I quite agree. But the tone of that article seems to suggest that there is no issue; that record companies are making it up

  • @thesociable @siliconireland I'm no fan of clunky govt legislation, but are you suggesting illegal downloading isn't an issue?

    • @ciaranj It obviously is an issue but blocking off certain parts of the internet for all is no the way to combat piracy

    • @ciaranj I think we're stepping into dangerous territory by allowing the internet to be filtered in anyway

      • @darrenmccarra I quite agree. But the tone of that article seems to suggest that there is no issue; that record companies are making it up

Recent Posts

Fintech lifeline for banks as rising consumer living costs hinder debt collection

Banks have moved from feast to famine amidst a spike in the number of financial…

7 hours ago

Mars Petcare and Michelson Found Animals want to make life easier for pet owners with Leap Venture Studio startup accelerator 

Being a pet owner can be hard. For one, according to researchers from the University…

8 hours ago

“A Lowercase ‘C’ Cost Me £550K”: CEO Shares Lessons Learned from Private Equity Earn-Out (Brains Byte Back podcast)

In this episode of Brains Byte Back, Erick Espinosa sits down with Sam Oliver, CEO…

1 day ago

A look into the edtech startup landscape in Southeast Asia

Education technology (edtech) is once again among the top sectors in Southeast Asia (SEA) for…

4 days ago

SQream Blue: the data preparation lakehouse setting new performance standards  

There is no single right big data solution. Organizations are most likely to succeed with…

4 days ago

Transformers: Navigating the New Era of Attention in Technology

In 2017, a group of researchers (from Google and the University of Toronto) introduced a…

1 week ago