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Internet censorship in the Republic of Ireland

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Internet censorship in Ireland is currently a controversial issue, including a drive to censor the Internet in Ireland starting in 2008 with the introduction of a graduated response policy followed by an effort to block certain sites which started in February 2009. In contrast to similar drives in countries including Australia this is being driven entirely by commercial interests rather than politicians under the pretext[citation needed] of major problems such as child pornography.[1] According to the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland:

"Internet Service Providers in Ireland have recently received letters threatening legal action from solicitors representing four major music recording companies. This legal action is spurious and there is no evidence of wrong-doing by Internet Service Providers. These actions could impact on user privacy, damage the development of new internet services, and hurt Ireland's standing as an eCommerce hub."[2]

Grassroots campaigns including "Blackout Ireland" and "Boycott Eircom" have been established to protest the censorship.[3]

History

In 2006 The Irish domain registry IEDR was criticised for maintaining a domain name blacklist including common words like porn.[4][5]

Previously however a Dublin based Internet Service Provider was temporarily disabled by a denial of service attack believed to be related to their hosting of a "virtual nation" on behalf of people seeking to end the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.[6]

Graduated response

A graduated response policy is currently being encouraged by the Irish Recorded Music Association who are urging ISPs in Ireland into sending warning letters and blocking content which it believes is damaging the music industry.[7][8] According to a report published by solicitors McCann Fitzgerald this is the first implementation in Europe of the three strikes system that record companies are lobbying to bring on throughout[9]:

  1. Once notified of the IP addresses, eircom will first inform the broadband subscriber that their IP address has been used in connection with illegal activities. At this stage, subscribers who claim they are the victim of “wi-fi hijacking” (where someone else uses their wi-fi network to access the internet) will have the opportunity to clarify their situation and upgrade the security of their connection if required.
  2. If a subscriber is then found to still be infringing, they will be warned that failure to cease infringing activities will result in their being disconnected by eircom.
  3. Continued failure to comply and cease infringing activity will result in the subscriber being disconnected.

Censorship

IRMA who represent EMI , Sony-BMG , Warner Bros. and Universal are seeking that Eircom along with all other major Irish ISPs block access to file sharing sites such as The Pirate Bay and Mininova.[10][11]

Letters explaining the plans were delivered to Irish ISPs including Blacknight and Eircom on the 13th of February 2009, calling for them to participate in the block or face possible legal action.[1][12]

Eircom have announced they will implement the block on The Pirate Bay from the 1 September 2009. Other ISPs, including UPC Ireland and BT Ireland are resisting pressure from IRMA.[13]

Talks on blocking internet access

In April 2010 the Irish government was revealed to have held discussions to introduce internet blocking.[14] The documents were obtained under Freedom of information leglislation by Digital Rights Ireland.[14] Although many documents were refused, the list of said items mentions a meeting between the Department of Justice and Law Reform and Vodafone, an email from 3 listing filtering technologies it uses and an item about a meeting between the Office of Internet Safety and the Garda Síochána on the proposed introduction of internet blocking.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b "Record industry talks Irish ISP into blocking P2P sites". Ars Technica. 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  2. ^ "ISPAI position statement" (PDF). ISPAI. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  3. ^ "Net campaign urges action over move to block websites". The Irish Times. 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  4. ^ "The censor strikes back". Financial Times. 2006-10-26. Retrieved 2009-03-17. [dead link]
  5. ^ Leahy, Enda (2006-10-22). "Censorship shock: no porn allowed on net". London: Times Online. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  6. ^ "Repressive nations now crossing cyberborders". Tribune News Service. 1999-02-03. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  7. ^ "IRMA's Pirate Bay clause won't float, say ISPs". SiliconRepublic. 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  8. ^ "Record firms seek to ban illegal downloads". RTÉ News. 2009-03-10. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  9. ^ Smith, Grace. "3 Strikes and You're Out for Illegal Downloaders" (PDF). McCann Fitzgerald Solicitors. Retrieved 2009-03-17. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) [dead link]
  10. ^ "Music-swapping sites to be blocked by internet providers". Sunday Business Post Online. 2009-02-22. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  11. ^ "Irish ISPs to block file-sharing sites". IT Examiner. 2009-02-29. Retrieved 2009-03-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ "Original IRMA letter to Blacknight" (PDF). Blacknight. 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  13. ^ "Eircom to block internet access to Pirate Bay as other firms refuse". The Irish Times. 2009-08-20. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  14. ^ a b c Putting up barriers to a free and open internet, Karlin Lillington, The Irish Times,16 April 2010


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