ISPAI slams Government stance on illegal file sharing

The Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) has issued a statement criticising the Government’s proposed statutory instrument aimed at bringing Irish law into line with an EU directive on copyright infringement. If passed, the Si could be used as a legal basis for introducing the blocking of websites found to be engaged in illegal file sharing, even if they aren’t based in Ireland.

Calling Minister for Research and Innovation Sean Sherlock’s measure a "quick fix", the statement argued for an overhaul of primary legislation instead of amending Irish law to bring it into line with a European Commission directive issued in 2000.

The statement criticised the proposed statutory instrument as being "too broad" and that it "throws the interpretation back to the courts", absolving the taxpayer of liability for lost income suffered by the entertainment industry at the expense of the technology sector, in particular data centres which power cloud services like online storage facilities, which can be used to share material without the consent of the rightsholder.

ISPAI manager Paul Durant said the technical demands that would be placed on service providers would force the introduction of any kind blocking measure that would be difficult to implement. "Essentially this means establishing technical blocking for websites, or part of websites, or other Internet services that mostly aren’t in this jurisdiction."

By way of an alternative approach, Durant said tackling services engaged in piracy, as in the ongoing Megaupload case, rather than taking action against ISPs would be a more effecient way of dealing with copyright issues without relying on case-by-case decisions. "Uncertainty in any market is not conducive to business investment."

TechCentral Reporters

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