Recording Industry Sues More Irish ISPs For Not Implementing 3 Strikes

from the but-where's-the-law? dept

Ireland has not implemented any sort of "three strikes" law for getting ISPs to kick file sharers off the internet, but don't tell that to the recording industry there. A little over a year ago, you may recall that the recording industry sued leading Irish ISP Eircom, claiming that its failure to stop file sharing on its network broke the law. That was quite a claim -- and about the only actual "evidence" was that because some execs from Eircom had some internal emails where they joked about piracy, then obviously the ISP was guilty. Rather than deal with an expensive court proceeding, Eircom quickly settled, and agreed to put in place a three strikes rule (despite being under no legal obligation to do so).

However, because Eircom was worried about the competitive nature of the industry -- and how users might flock to other ISPs, it apparently had the labels agree to go after other ISPs as well. In fact, very soon after the agreement, the local recording industry association (the Irish Recorded Music Association -- IRMA) sent letters to other ISPs falsely claiming that under European law, they too needed to implement three strikes -- to which those ISPs responded by pointing out the law said no such thing.

Apparently IRMA would like to put that to the test. It's now sued two other Irish ISPs: the second largest telco (BT Ireland) and the largest cable ISP, UPC Ireland. UPC Ireland seems ready to vigorously defend itself, noting: "There is no basis under Irish law requiring ISPs to control, access or block the internet content its users download. In addition, the rights-holders' proposal gives rise to serious concerns for data privacy and consumer contract law."
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Filed Under: ireland, three strikes
Companies: bt ireland, eircom, irma, upc ireland


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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 8:30am

    Why is the title "Recording Industry" when it is in fact the IRMA doing the suing? The whole industry isn't suing, only the Irish group.

    Accuracy, it's something sorely lacking around here.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    JM Singleton (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 8:37am

    File Sharing

    There is no way to stop file sharing. There is nothing wrong with it. If you ouylaw Limewire there's always a Bit Torrent.
    My Tech Site

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    JustMe (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 8:39am

    Re: A/C

    Choose your own adventure (pick 1):

    A) "Accuracy, it's something sorely lacking around here." says the Anon Coward.

    B) Attribution, sorely lacking in the previous comment.

    C) Cary Sherman, is that you?


    I got a million of them! Try the veal, tip your waitress.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 8:44am

    Re:

    Is IRMA a part of the recording industry? Yes. Does the whole "Recording Industry" have major ties to one another? Yes. Is the "Recording Industry" throwing money at efforts like this so they can have more draconian measures in place to try and keep their dinosaur of a business model in place? Yes.

    Trolling annoys me, go elsewhere.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    PaulT (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 9:02am

    Re:

    The Irish Recorded Music Association isn't part of the recording industry?

    Snark aside, maybe you're referring to the fact that some Americans reading this will assume it's an RIAA reference. In that case, check out the member list from IRMA's Wikipedia entry:

    "The recording companies and other music related companies that are on the IRMA members board are:

    * Warner Music Group Ireland Ltd.
    * Sony/BMG Ireland Music Entertainment Ltd.
    * RMG Chart Entertainment Ltd.
    * Whirling Discs Ltd.
    * EMI Ireland
    * Universal Music (Ireland) Ltd.
    * Pinnacle Records"

    Not much difference between that list and the major RIAA members...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Guy One, 22 Jun 2009 @ 9:35am

    Re: File Sharing

    Limewire? Welcome to 2007.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 9:39am

    Re: Re:

    Are any of the companies you listed part of the RIAA? Nope, not a single one. Their parent companies, perhaps.

    What Mike is trying to do is vilify the people he dislikes by lumping them all in one place. "the recording industry" is this big thing with no people, no seperate between companies, they are like the borg, all thinking as one.

    It's such crap, it's just another attempt to create a sort of false enemy. Easier to take pot shots.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    TPBer, 22 Jun 2009 @ 10:03am

    Re: Re: File Sharing

    "Limewire? Welcome to 2007."

    Don't you mean '02 or '03?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 22 Jun 2009 @ 10:30am

    Re: Re: Re:

    would you stop it please? You are really giving us AC a bad name here.

    This stuff isn't lulz worthy. I hate freaking kids. I miss the good ol days when trolls were smart people acting dumb... but now it's mostly dumb people acting like themselves. Go make a lolz cat or something.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. identicon
    Just as Anonymous, 22 Jun 2009 @ 10:54am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Are any of the companies you listed part of the RIAA? Nope, not a single one. Their parent companies, perhaps.

    Ah, yes, of course, Warner Music Group of Ireland is a completely independent subsidiary that does not sell any of the same music that Warner Music Group else where does and does not represent the same musicians. Riiight. And it would be funny if an Irish company was part of an American association (what did you think AA stood for in RIAA? Alcoholics Anonymous is reasonable, but not correct).

    Poor job shilling on your part, try again.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Rebel Freek (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 10:57am

    Re: Re: Re:

    "Are any of the companies you listed part of the RIAA? Nope, not a single one. Their parent companies, perhaps."

    Wait, are you fucking kidding me? The RIAA is an AMERICAN collaboration for the recording industry, while the IRISH version is the IRMA.

    Let me point out the "Their parent companies, perhaps." comment again. If you had the head guy from Warner music here in the US and the head guy from the Irish branch tell you who their boss was, they would likely send you to the same person.

    "It's such crap, it's just another attempt to create a sort of false enemy."

    How are his posts creating a false enemy? They outline how horrible the recording industry as a whole is destroying the fan base for the music industry by villifing their fans.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    Rebel Freek (profile), 22 Jun 2009 @ 10:59am

    Re: Re: Re: File Sharing

    No, I think it was still Kazaa at that point... Maybe '05?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    PaulT (profile), 23 Jun 2009 @ 12:55am

    Re: Re: Re:

    So... the Irish subsidiaries of American corporations are completely autonomous units who should be free of all criticism directed at their American parent organisations? Despite the fact that they seem to be committing very similar anti-consumer, self-destructive actions?

    There's no "false enemy" here. If Warner Ireland was acting in a different way to Warner US, they wouldn't be criticised. They're acting the same way, so they get the same criticism. Is that really so hard to understand?

    The "recording industry" is a group of companies who seem to be collectively making stupid, self-destructive and anti-consumer moves like the idiotic three strikes idea. There are exceptions, such as independent artists and labels, but they are still the minority. Do you have a better term to refer to (major labels + affiliates + other members of recording industry associations) that would allow us to confuse you less?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. icon
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    Watunes, The New Music Industry!

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    Watunes offers services for the entire independent music community, whether you already have digital representation or are just getting started in the digital world. We make it easy to distribute your content to digital outlets, promote your content using our innovative marketing systems, and manage your catalog and sales using our first-class technology.

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  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Jun 2009 @ 5:53am

    the largest digital distributer in the world? i thought that was the orchard! anyways.... the IRMA / RIAA spot the difference comment made me laugh.. they are the same thing guys.. i read that the ISP's all agreed to this policy when the IRMA were settlign with Eircom. eitherway it's still a case of sueing anybody they can... i'm no lawyer but i think IRMA's efforts is just a way of testing the water for the Labels to get their claws into every other EU country doing the same thing. it's a bit of a joke to be honest, the music industry has failed to adapt to change and is sueing everyone they can as a result..
    if the the nice guys in the IRMA had put more effort into supporting domestic repertoire in ireland or helped enforcing the radio quota's, then maybe there would be more money for the irma to play about with.
    I'm sort confused in the sense that shouldn't the beef be with the governments themselves rather than the isp's or is a pussy move like avoiding google for example???

    link to this | view in thread ]


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