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Irish ISPs to block music-sharing websites
Author: Ben HardwidgePublished: 23rd February 2009
The Pirate Bay is apparently the first site on IRMA's hit list of sites to be blocked by Irish ISPs.
According to Ireland’s Sunday Business Post, IRMA has already reached an agreement with Eire’s largest ISP, Eircom, under which the ISP will block websites that allow free access to copyright music files. IRMA has also instructed other ISPs in the country to follow suit or face legal action. The site also points out that if IRMA is successful in this initiative, then it would be the ‘first European country to completely block access to hundreds of file-sharing websites.’
According to the site, IRMA is currently compiling a list of offending websites that will face the block, the first of which will be the infamous Pirate Bay. The site says that once an offending site has been identified, IRMA will then apply for a court order that requires the country’s ISPs to block access to it.
Defending its position on piracy, IRMA says that ‘music Piracy is a 5 billion dollar worldwide problem. It rears its ugly head everywhere, often completely ruining the livelihoods of performers and people working in the music industry. Ireland, with its rich musical tradition, is also a lucrative market for piracy, with music industry losses running to €3.8 million annually, this figure increases to €63.5 million when pirated software and videos are included.’ IRMA is a non-profit organisation created by record companies and other companies associated with the music industry in Ireland, and it has the goal of 'protecting the welfare and interests' of its members.
In January, IRMA also initiated a scheme to ban pirates by identifying the IP addresses of people downloading copyright works via P2P networks, and then passing the information onto Eircom. The ISP would then send a letter out to the offending broadband subscriber telling them to stop or face disconnection, and then disconnect them in the case of noncompliance.
Is blocking websites the right way to go about stopping piracy, and would it actually help the record industry sell more music? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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With the advent of all the music sites like Spotify Last.fm, Pandora and so on, music sales is only going to decline further as ppl see no need to purchase an album when they can listen to it free and legal as well.
Blocking ISP's is too big brother for me. And making TPB the target is just pointing fingers. Google accomplishes the same thing as TPB, just add +torrent to any search and there you are. I'd like to see the Irish ban Google. . .
All sounds a bit dodgy
i really really dont think this will happen.
let artists make money from actually preforming not spending a day in a recording studio a year. go out a play live for a living ffs
I can't be the only person who thinks that the music industry is out to remove our ability to sift the rubbish by removing our ability to try first. A business model which focuses on trying to take information away from the consumer is always going to face an uphill struggle. Why not adapt and survive rather than go to war with your consumers?
I believe this is happing everywhere. The whole system of an agent, MTV marketing videos, record Label, expensive recording studios is being booted out the door here. You can go to a recording studio here and rent out a studio for $40 or less an hour and produce some Pro quality stuff.
The industry is changing and the rich cannot keep a hold on it. Its a freedom that needs to be embraced.
Take Radiohead for example: Their last album was a great marketing strategy they let people download their last album for free and asked for donations. Last time I read up on it they said they made just as much money as previous albums in the past. And eliminated the worry of piracy.
I Thought it was the "Live" Music Capitol Of the World.
will the list be freely available to see?
performers actually are the last people to see money
and majority of their revenue is from performances
music sales are for management and producers etc...
you can see why they want to protect their interest
the music of today is total fail anyways music arent even produce or written by the artist majority of the time
we are also bombarded with so many different music that it is not feasible to buy everything we like and the next best song would come around in a few weeks. Pretty poor investing in music that isnt versatile.
Australia is going into a filtering problem too at ISP level.
Eircom monopolise the broadband market over here, so even if the other ISPs don't start taking it up the arse from the record labels we still don't have much choice.
We can speak with our money and cancel our Eircom subscriptions, but there aren't many others to go to over here.