Irish ISP Accused Of Copyright Violations Agrees To Implement Three Strikes

from the settle-me-this dept

Thu, Jan 29th 2009 3:52am — Mike Masnick

Last year, the IFPI sued Irish ISP Eircom for copyright infringement. This was quite a leap. While the IFPI, RIAA and other such organizations had been pushing ISPs to filter file sharing or cut off file sharers via a three strikes approach, this was the first time that an ISP was being sued for being actually liable for the infringement as well. The "evidence" appeared to be some internal emails where Eircom employees joked about piracy. That seemed like a stretch... but rather than go through a full lawsuit, it appears Eircom has settled. Reader eoinmonty points us to the news that Eircom has agreed to implement a three strikes policy as a part of the settlement. Interesting that this comes just days after the neighboring UK announced that it will not require three strikes policies from UK ISPs. Of course, now the IFPI and the record labels have a framework: sue ISPs, and then push them to implement three strikes as a part of the settlement.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: ireland, isps, three strikes
Companies: eircom, ifpi

22 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2009 @ 4:02am

The record Labels are at strike 1,000,000,000 or more, FUCK THEM!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Gunnar, 29 Jan 2009 @ 4:49am

So the ISP makes a mistake (though, since the root of the joke is that piracy gives musicians less money, I don't see how that could be construed to mean that piracy is good) and its customers are punished?

Sounds fair...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
E.U., 29 Jan 2009 @ 5:24am

EU?
Isn't Ireland part of the EU? Didn't the EU deem the 3 strikes rule a violation of rights?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Irish immigrant, 29 Jan 2009 @ 5:28am

I ordered a broadband package with Eircom yesterday!
I moved to Ireland last week and the only ISP available in my area is Eircom. I have used Bit Torrent frequently to gain access to many legal downloads such as open source softwar and independant music and films.

As a regular Techdirt reader though I know I can look forward to being wrongly accused and disconnected at the IFPI's whims!

Why can't Eircom focus their energy in providing me with a better product? €60 ($79 USD) for a download speed "upto" 7Mb and a 50Mb cap....and I'm being forced to take a phone line. Very, very poor!!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Irish immigrant, 29 Jan 2009 @ 5:32am

Re: EU?
I think you're right. I'm going to double check and call Eircom if you're correct!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Irish immigrant, 29 Jan 2009 @ 5:36am

Re: Re: EU?
Doh!

http://techdirt.com/articles/20081201/0245052983.shtml
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Jan 2009 @ 6:13am

Baseball
This just in:
MLB is filing a suit against the entertainment industry claiming trademark infringement for the use of "Three Strikes"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Irish immigrant, 29 Jan 2009 @ 6:55am

Eircom no more!
Well, it has taken me over an hour but I have managed to find another ISP in my area. I've now cancelled my Eircom order and placed a new order with this other ISP!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Garry, 29 Jan 2009 @ 7:10am

Re: Eircom no more!
Make sure to let Eircom know why you cancelled. I'm not personally a customer of theirs, but I still wrote to them saying I would now never consider signing up to their service as a result of this ruling. If enough people do the same, hopefully this will raise eyebrows.

I've also already written to ComReg (Ombudsman for the telecommunications in Ireland) and the Minister for Communications & Energy, as this decision effectively removes a person's access to the internet at the whim of a commercial entity.

Let it also be noted, that the reports on this story note that the record labels will be using the services of a 3rd party to look for IP addresses infringing. Surely there's a vested interest on the part of this 3rd party to ensure that they find as many IP addresses as possible!

Saying that, when Eircom get the first list from the record labels, I can imagine they're going to balk at the number of paying customers they're going to have to cut off!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alex (profile), 29 Jan 2009 @ 8:23am

Re: EU?
The EU provision is not law --- it is an amendement by the European Parliament to EU legislation which has not passed yet. Also (tho' I may be wrong) I think it only makes it unlawful for an EU /government/ to mandate ISPs to implement a 3-strikes type approach. It doesn't say anything about circumstances in which ISPs can decide for themselves whether to cut users off in accordance with their T&Cs. (I think --- I may be wrong about this.) That said, I suspect that 3-strikes is unlawful under the ECHR, even if implemented "voluntarily" by an ISP. For my part, if my ISP implemented this sort of policy, I would do what "Irish immigrant" has done, i.e. change ISP.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Alex (profile), 29 Jan 2009 @ 8:33am

The relevant proposed EU provision (Amendment 138 to a set of directives called the Telecom Package) reads as follows:

"that no restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of end-users, without a prior ruling by the judicial authorities, notably in accordance with Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union on freedom of expression and information, save when public security is threatened where the ruling may be subsequent."

so (on my reading) it probably *would* make Eircom's action unlawful, BUT first, the package would have to be voted for with this amendment (not certain: the EU Council is against it), *and* it then would have to be ratified into Irish law.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Another Irish immigrant, 29 Jan 2009 @ 8:38am

Eircom was once state owned and now owned by some Aussie invesntment firm. Most of the people who work there are still work as if they are doing some favour to some one by visiting the office. they dont care even if all their customer leaves!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Fraggle850, 29 Jan 2009 @ 9:53am

They won't need to try this tack in the UK soon
If the UK Government adopts the provisions of the Carter Report (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/29/digital_britain_tax_quango_and_enforcement/) there will be an ISP tax to fund a Government body to look at how to make ISPs sell the souls of their subscribers to the recording industry who will then be helped by that Govt. body to batter their subscribers into being nice to the labels and paying over the odds for the inconvenience of Govt. backed DRM!

Please Techdirt, some wisdom and insightful comment on this sorry state of affairs!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
SteveD, 29 Jan 2009 @ 12:06pm

Re: Re: Re: EU?
Pushed though heavily by Sarkozy, who incidentally happens to have a celebrity recording artist as a wife...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Killer, 29 Jan 2009 @ 2:15pm

Eircom are a company who's whole income structure is based around fleecing their customers. They caved in so easily because they assume that their customers are old Irish mentally inclinded idiots (not so anymore). They are not in touch with their customers. I for one will be canceling the home internet and personally I don't even live in Ireland anymore. They are good for nothing, life sucking *****. Service is lame and it costs the earth. No service in densely populated areas in the countryside close to Dublin (
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Killer, 29 Jan 2009 @ 2:19pm

close to Dublin (
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Killer, 29 Jan 2009 @ 2:21pm

As a service provider they are 50 years behind civilised countries in terms of speed. The are finished HA HA HA. This makes my day, I can't wait to cancel. I might even change to BT or some one else in spite. Their customers are going to drop rapidly and soon they will be asking the Dáil Éireann for a bail out. Bring it on Eircom cause you signed your own dead warrant. Signed : A one time customer
[ link to this | view in thread ]
My Office, 1 Feb 2009 @ 5:37am

Internet Cafe
Ok..so I own an internet cafe in the midlands. Now alot of people come in here with laptops. Now I can block all the PC's from P2P websites...but I can't stop someone from plugging in their laptop and downloading whatever they want. This is going to cause major problems for me ....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
UNF, 6 Feb 2009 @ 1:13pm

This Curious Rollover .... stinks of a setup
there is simply no way IFPI could ever have won this ridiculous case, so why would Eircom settle on these terms, except for an ulterior and probably perverse political motive?

It looks like they consider themselves (still) a 5th branch of government, whose job it is to extort, penalise and harrass their captive 'service recipients' ... but they will very soon find the users voting with their feet on this one.

Good riddance to you, Eircom, enjoy a richly deserved bankruptcy!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 30 Mar 2015 @ 12:09pm

The Music And Film Industry Association of America is happy with US-based ISPs implementing a 6-strikes policy. But in Europe, 3 strikes seems to be the rule for some reason. And in Japan, essentially one strike, which might explain why anonymous P2P networks have always been very popular there.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jack, 27 Sep 2016 @ 9:22am

Eircom = crooks
Eir, better (or bitterly) remembered as Eircom is by far the worst provider in Ireland.
Not only they cheat on their customers on broadband speed but they have the worst customer service, the most incompetent, biased and arrogant technical support and the most unethical and often illegal commercial practices.
They recently increased their prices! For what exactly? Nobody knows.
Because they are losing clients by the thousands as they are so bad and to compensate they make the customers pay for their lack of professionalism.
Every week, every evening the network is down or so slow that it goes to the speed of a modem (56kb/s).
When you call the “technical support” ( the ****** stable) , they are never aware of anything.
It looks like they harass their few clients left in order they leave to the competition.
The most expensive, the least reliable, the slowest, the worst customer and technical services and cherry on the cake, you can’t even get your bill properly as their “electronic” bill system is down every time you try to get your bill online.
Fed up of these ********. **** YOU EIR !
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Elen, 27 Sep 2016 @ 9:26am

Re: Eircom = crooks
For those whio have a doubt about eircom (now called eir, but still the same low life company)

http://ratemyisp.ie/ they are by far the worst noted provider (the only one with 230 1 star (out of 5) reviews out of 230 reviews.

100% bad reviews... Not bad eh..
[ link to this | view in thread ]