Tuesday, April 12, 2005

IRMA follows through on its threats

From RTE news - IRMA taking cases against internet piracy:
"The Irish Recorded Music Association has said it is pursuing cases against 17 people for illegally uploading music onto the internet."
It will be interesting to see how Irish ISPs respond to demands that they identify subscribers alleged to have shared music - in particular whether they make voluntary disclosure of this information.

Update - it's now clear that IRMA have yet to commence litigation. They've now requested that ISPs identify the users from their IP address and filesharing usernames. ISPs might or might not be able to do this voluntarily - but for the reasons I discussed here they should refuse voluntary disclosure and insist on a court order. Users should be wary of any ISP that's willing to hand over their personal information based on the mere accusation of a private body with no official standing. Irish ISPs should take a lead from their English counterparts' refusal of voluntary disclosure in the Motley Fool and later the BPI filesharing litigation.

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