High Court moron forces ISP's to block Torrent sites

CrazyRabbit

So apparently the Irish High Court has no interest in protecting the rights of Irish citizens to visit perfectly legal websites that have legitimate uses.

Sometimes I wonder if these High Court Justices were dropped on their heads as babies.

http://www.thejournal.ie/high-court-order-block-pirate-bay-948503-Jun2013/

SIX IRISH INTERNET service providers have been ordered by the High Court to block access to The Pirate Bay website.
The companies behind internet providers UPC, Imagine, Digiweb, Vodafone, Three and O2 will now have 30 days to introduce mechanisms that stop users from visiting The Pirate Bay, a website which facilitates the downloading of copyrighted material free of charge and without the copyright holder’s approval.
Justice Brian McGovern issued an order which had been drafted by music publishers EMI, Sony, Universal Music and Warner Music in collaboration with the six internet providers.
He said the internet providers had not argued that it would be inappropriate to issue a blocking order, given Irish statute law and previous court rulings in Ireland, the UK and the EU.
The order will apply not only to any current incarnation of The Pirate Bay, but any other address at which the service becomes available in future. It is unclear whether this includes any ‘mirrors’ of The Pirate Bay, of which there are hundreds around the internet.
First outing for ‘Irish SOPA’

The ruling is the first time that a controversial law, introduced last year, has been used by a copyright holder to block access to a website.
The controversial law was dubbed the ‘Irish SOPA’ because of fears that it could allow court orders to take down, or block access to, objectionable online content.
That legislation was introduced after a previous case in which an order was sought against UPC.
In that ruling, Justice Peter Charleton said European e-commerce directives offered copyright holders the right to seek court orders against intermediaries “whose services are used by a third party to infringe a copyright or related right.”
However, he found that this European directive had not been transposed into Irish law – meaning there was nothing in Irish law that allowed him issue an order which blocked access to The Pirate Bay for UPC customers.
Today, Justice McGovern said he fully agreed with the Charleton ruling, believing that Ireland had not adopted the relevant EU laws granting judicial relief to the holders of copyrighted works to stop their works from being pirated.
In an earlier case, the court had ordered Eircom to block The Pirate Bay for its internet users, on the grounds that the website could be used for the easy sharing of copyrighted material without the prior approval of the copyright holder.

Amirani

Don't blame the judge, blame Sean Sherlock.

biko

Claiming judges are morons for enforcing the law, AH style since 2000.

Peregrine

UPC should fight it as they have before.

I don't see why Sky shouldn't be included.

CrazyRabbit

The Pirate Bay doesn't break any laws. Any Hight Court Justice that incorrectly applies a law (that is fundamentally unjust anyway) deserves some critique.

enigmatical

What if the ISPs are unable to comply for technical reasons?

Their networks aren't designed to have content filtering.

30 days is a bit of an over ambitious time line.

padd b1975

Pirate Bay, a website which facilitates the downloading of copyrighted material free of charge and without the copyright holder’s approval.

Is this not the crux of the whole issue people??

johnnyskeleton

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

The Pirate Bay doesn't break any laws. Any Hight Court Justice that incorrectly applies a law (that is fundamentally unjust anyway) deserves some critic.

Does it not breach copyright laws by allowing pirate music software and movies to be exchanged? I mean the clue is in the name really.

Fr_Dougal

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Does it not breach copyright laws by allowing pirate music software and movies to be exchanged? I mean the clue is in the name really.

It provides links, it doesn't store any illegal data.

Orion

The last paragraph is incorrect. Eircom did it voluntarily. There was no court order.

Jev/N

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

The Pirate Bay doesn't break any laws

Ok. What's that based on?

horgan_p

padd b1975 wrote: »

Is this not the crux of the whole issue people??

No , the crux of the matter is that a case can be brought which will an ISP to block (to a point) access to a website deemed inappropiate by a third party.
An unelected 3rd party.

MadsL

In other news, library ordered to block access to photocopiers.

Bobeagleburger

Trying to censor the internet will never work.

How long will it take for new torrent sites to pop up,not to mention the thousands already out there?

Will there be a Minister for Site Blocking?

Pointless exercise.

SV

Ah this sucks so much, I wish there was other torrent websites out there and oh wait nevermind.

Nitochris

Is it just Pirate Bay in this case or is it other websites as well?
I ask because I am certain I either saw or heard Pirate Bay type websites in relation to this at some point today.

tricky D

Music industry gets to Kick Ass on Torrents

the irony.ph

Peregrine

rarnes1 wrote: »

Will there be a Minister for Site Blocking?

Sherlock called dibs on that already

returnNull

padd b1975 wrote: »

Is this not the crux of the whole issue people??

should they not go after the websites that are breaching the copyright?Its like banning cars because they are used in robberies!

CrazyRabbit

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Does it not breach copyright laws by allowing pirate music software and movies to be exchanged? I mean the clue is in the name really.

So does Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.

As the old adage goes...don't shoot the messenger.

The law was designed to block sites that share copyrighted content. The Pirate Bay does not do that, nor does any other search engine. The law as it has been incorrectly applied here could result in every search engine or social media site being blocked (Youtube, Facebook...even boards.ie if someone posts a link to copyrighted material).

marshbaboon

RIP illegal downloading. 1999-2013.

CrazyRabbit

Jev/N wrote: »

Ok. What's that based on?

Well none of the other search engine companies have been convicted of being illegal.

latenia

Will a trip to the High Court be required in every single instance of them getting a site taken down? At over €100k a pop the record companies just don't have the cash to go down that road.

Peregrine

marshbaboon wrote: »

RIP illegal downloading. 1999-2013.

Not really, illegal downloading will continue.

padd b1975

horgan_p wrote: »

No , the crux of the matter is that a case can be brought which will an ISP to block (to a point) access to a website deemed inappropiate by a third party.
An unelected 3rd party.

returnNull wrote: »

should they not go after the websites that are breaching the copyright?Its like banning cars because they are used in robberies!

I think the most important people in the whole thing are the owners of the copyrights.

If the court feels that the imposing of restrictions on internet providers regarding torrent sites is the best way of protecting these copyrights then I think people have to accept the ruling.

mike65

The uploaders of the material should be jailed rather than the ISPs

Allyall

mike65 wrote: »

The uploaders of the material should be jailed rather than the ISPs

The record Companies should be jailed. They're the ones trying to rob people.

All that aside, It's the censorship that is being implemented, for me that is the bigger issue.

The Pirate Bay is just the Google of torrents, it doesn't serve any purpose apart from this. It's not even the best torrent tracking site out there, nor was it the first- it's just the one that is being used as the scapegoat.

Really is just the music industry's own fault for the mess it is currently in. Instead of adapting to this new technology, they fight it, and now it's gotten too big and too powerful for it to fall. They need to follow the mould set by bands like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, by comedians like Louis C.K, and by gaming sites like GOG.com and give the people the chance to pay however much they want, with incentives if they pay above certain amounts. These have been proven to be resounding successes.

Indie.

http://euobserver.com/news/120456

Looks like it wont be happening

Jev/N

CrazyRabbit wrote: »

Well none of the other search engine companies have been convicted of being illegal.

I wouldn't agree with the comparison. TPB is a bit more than a standard search engine and it's primary service is to those seeking to flout copyright.

Come on, so many of those that use it can't deny that it's main purpose is to provide free music, movies and whatever else you might desire!? It's called the PIRATE bay!

Anyway, it's a moot point as the orders will just be leap-frogged by technology or ingenuity.

VinLieger

marshbaboon wrote: »

RIP illegal downloading. 1999-2013.

LOL that you actually think that, theres still 100s of other sites out there that are exactly the same as the pirate bay not to mention mirrors, vpns and google which does exactly the same thing the pirate bay does in reality.
Also theres still god knows how many streaming sites for tv and movies, and youtube converters for music, entertainment companies need to wake up and realise they have already lost and start giving consumers a real choice about how to access and pay for their media instead of sticking to their archaic business models