Court rules in favour of ISPs in piracy case

Court rules in favour of ISPs in piracy case

The High Court in Ireland has ruled that laws cutting off internet users who have illegally downloaded content cannot be enforced in the country. It is a victory for Irish internet service provider UPC which took the legal action against copyright owners, including EMI and Sony. But it will be a blow to the music and film industry, which wants the strict rules as a deterrent against piracy. It is likely to have a knock-on effect to similar policies in other countries.

Lobbying government

Mr Justice Peter Charleton said in his judgement that illegal file-sharing was "destructive of an important native industry". But he added that there were no laws in Ireland to allow the disconnection of pirates from the net and that any attempts to do so could be in breach of European legislation. UPC said in a statement that it "does not condone piracy and has always taken a strong stance against illegal activity on its network". "Our whole premise and defense focused on the mere conduit principal which provides that an internet service provider cannot be held liable for content transmitted across its network," the statement added. The Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) is considering its next move. "The judge was very clear he wanted to rule in his favour but couldn't because the legislation wasn't in place," Lindsey Holmes, a spokeswoman for Irma told the BBC. "The committee is meeting today. There is a couple of options - to appeal to the Supreme Court or to lobby government to change the legislation," she added.

Watered down

In May, Ireland's biggest net firm Eircom began the process of implementing a 'three strikes and you're out' policy, sending warning letters to those identified as illegal file-sharers. Although it has threatened to cut off internet access for persistent pirates it has not yet done so and it is not clear how this latest ruling will affect its campaign. France is pursuing a similar 'three strikes and you are out' policy. In the UK, the Digital Economy Act makes provision for similar policies although there are no current plans to cut people off. Mark Mulligan, an analyst with research firm Forrester, thinks it is unlikely to happen in the UK. "I don't think we will see three strikes imposed from the state," he said. "Although the legislation is framed, there is still so much of it that is vague. The implementation will be down to ISPs, content providers and Ofcom and is likely to be watered down," he said. In private agreements with copyright holders, several law firms have begun writing to thousands of people identified as illegal file-sharers asking them to pay a fine or face court. In September it emerged that activisits had targeted some of these firms and posted lists of those accused on the web ACS:Law had the names and addresses of more than 5,000 people, alongside the pornographic films they were accused of downloading, published on the web. It faces fines of up to £500,000 for the data breach.

SOURCE




MOD NOTE (This Appears On Every New Thread/Post Reply Page):
Please make sure every post matters.
Refrain from 1-line or very-minimal responses.
Edit-down your quoted posts to the important part.
Don't use "txting" shorthand in posts.
Use snippets and links for external content.
Provide meaningful comments for links, pictures, and videos.

So its not their content any more once on the net.
Great never did buy into Apple selling itunes.
A personal tape recorder was for recording your songs.
The video tape recorder was for recording your video content.
You personal computer has the audio and the video.
Now your ISP has the same.
Let them sell all the content that can, thats fair.

this is good news for the freedom of the internet,i'm guessing the powers that be don't like this one bit! ....its good to see some common sense on this matter,as i for one belive the term piracy is being used as a way to control the internet,stop us shareing files between eachother,its only a very small % that do illegal downloading,hopefully this will reverbarate and have a positive effect on keeping the freedom of the internet.

This is another case of the Illuminati shutting down the ether.
The ether being a great transmitter which is what the internet does.
The computer has reformed the audio and video into a transmittable form.
In a philosophical sense and as the ether contained in wires the main
purpose is the ability of transmission.
Shutting down the transmission is most important and only to be
used by the controllers as encoded radio messages to control their
forces as the Nazis did in WWII.
Transmission is good for 'them' and must be blocked for 'us'.
ED: Sort of interesting as radio was being enjoyed by many the
fiends would use radio to conquer the world. Now air travel is
being used against us in crashing into buildings.