dingostew.com

After years of big talk, posturing and threats from the powers that be, finally the world's file-sharers are facing up to the fact that they might actually get into trouble for their illegal behaviour. That's certainly the message being sent out in Ireland, where a piracy crackdown was launched today.

The Irish Republic is threatening to ban web users from the internet for a year if they are identified as persistent offenders. The initiative has been launched by the country's largest ISP, Eircom, in tandem with the Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma), which includes big record labels such as EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner.

Irma has begun to supply Eircom with "thousands of IP addresses" so they can identify pirates, particularly those who are sharing, rather than just downloading, content illegally. Warning letters will be sent out, then a phone call from a unit set up to deal with the issue. If offenders fail to cease after a getting a third message in pop-up form, their service will be withdrawn for a week, then a year if a fourth infringement takes place.

Eircom spokesman Paul Bradley said they are conscious that people need better education about file-sharing, while they also recognise that downloading could be taking place in some households under the family radar. "We don't expect many people to get to phase 3 and we are a long way from looking at suspensions," explained Dick Doyle, director general of Irma.

However, he also insisted that their tough stance, which is set to be followed by the launch of a similar scheme in France, is not to be taken lightly. "The European Parliament has been talking about internet access as a basic human right. It absolutely is not. Intellectual property protection is a right," he insisted.

But how will this impact on users here? The UK watchdog Ofcom is scheduled to publish its code of conduct for ISPs shortly and they will be wary of fresh fears expressed by organisations such as the Open Rights Group and Consumer Focus, who warn that the cost of tackling file-sharing could force the price we all pay for our broadband services to go up.

There are also concerns that anyone accused of breaking the law would have to pay part of the cost of defending themselves against such accusations even if they are completely exonerated. The Irish experiment promises to provide insight into how this potential public minefield could work closer to home as we await Ofcom's recommendations, which are due later this week.

thats total bullshit! I heard of Eircoms three-strike rule the other day and it shows their lack of knowledge in the legalities of file-sharing. No ISP in Ireland can be held responsible for file-sharing. If eircom chose not to help IRMA, absolutely nothing could have been done to them. They're just peddling to the suits and this is totally unnecessary. Just more scare tactics.

In fact, the issue here is uploading, not downloading. People will be able to download the music or whatever (actually its just the record labels here, not the movie or games companies) but if they upload large amounts, then eircom will catch on.

What alarms me is that IRMA were supplying eircom with IPs! How the hell did IRMA get the IP address of people sharing their music?? They must implant some sorta tracking signatures into the MP3s!!