Can one now leave Eircom Internet service provider for breach of contract?

Nody

Pub07 wrote: »

So Nody, I take it you would be against Eircom blocking child porn if there was a way to do it? I mean if a crime is committed then the gardai should investigate and hand over to prosecution rather than Eircom moving to prevent the crime (creating or view it) happening in the first place.

Heck yes! Why? Because a) Eircom will no be able to block me from accessing it (assuming I had an interest in it) short of blocking every proxy server on the Internet AND having a complete list of every site with child porn that is updated by the hour and b) it is not their job to prevent a crime but to report it to the appropriate authorities. A company will NEVER be able to properly do the job and even assuming they could some how manage to pull of A I could go to Usernet, IRC, Direct to Drive, DVD swapping etc. instead to get my "kick". All you end up with is a shady implementation of what is not allowed AND no way to actually know what I'm doing (what you're suggesting has been tried).

Net result? A implementation that limit the access for all users with out any effect to give a feel good feeling. Pretty much like certain newly set up American departments after 11/9 or the limits on liquid in the airport controls.

And if anyone thinks such a implementation would stop at torrent site or child porn sites is delusional. After torrent sites there will be a high profile case for rape/paedophile/terrorism/city racing which killed a lot of innocent. It turns out the person was watching on the Internet how to/got excited/wanted to try; the survivors/victims then starts to petition to have such sites added to the list as well. Then the police sees hey, this work, and want to add different sites that sell drugs/make bombs/<insert illegal or shady activity here> as well, for the good of society of course. Only problem is of course that fact that people tend to be careless and very few sites are black or white you start to block grey sites as well with legit, fully allowed material.

And there stands my objection, society should not be my nanny telling me what I can read or do. It can set laws for what it considers to be socially acceptable behaviour which I have to follow but it should not be allowed to say what I'm allowed to read, see or investigate. That is setting a very dangerous precedent and we have seen the after effect in 11/9, the airport security controls etc. that society is apt to knee jerk reactions AND inept on doing such a job properly. Net result is limited access for no gain, not a trade I'm willing to do.

MOH

Pub07 wrote: »

Sweeping but true. Dont try and tell me that 99% of torrents aren't for copyrighted music, games, movies and software because 99% is probably a conservative estimate, it's probably closer to 99.9%. The examples you gave are all available with less hassle off normal websites. Who goes to a torrent site to find some little shareware program to fulfill a task they might have? No-one, they search google for say 'batch image converter' or 'mpeg avi converter' etc as its far handier and you can actually see some info on the app you are about to download.

I've used torrents to download both game demos and (legal) free software, simply because I've got better speeds than elsewhere for large downloads.
It's a dangerous precedent blocking customers from specific websites on the basis that some (or even most) might use those to access copyright material. What's next? Suppose a dicussion board less moderated than boards allows discussion in one forum on how to get around such a block. Do Eircom ban access to that site?
Whatever about the 3 strikes thing, I can't see all the other ISPs going along with this.

Helix

aidan_walsh wrote: »

As far as I can tell this case doesn't fall under the circumstances of either, as the courts are not ordering the site blocked as in the first link, nor is Eircom being held responsible for the actions of their customers as in the second. So it is not illegal (IMO, IANAL) on those grounds.

EDIT: Ah yes, IRMA will need to go through the courts with the list, so it may well fall under the remit of the first case. I wonder...

for the second one, surely eircom ARE being held responsible for the actions of their customers... what else would irma be threatening to sue them for if they dont cooperate?

Run_to_da_hills

Incidental Eircom has backed off the blocking of Pirate Bay until such time as its is forced to do so by court injunction. Proper order.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/02/eircom-no-pirate-bay-blockade-until-we-get-a-court-order.ars

calex71

gotta love it

Clone

I thought I add my 2 cents

I understand the concerns about copyright infringements coming from a media creation background, but one good thing that has come out of downloading copyrighted music is that artists can't simply stick together a great studio album and sit back and watch the cash come in; They have to get out there and perform in front of their fans to make a real income and prove they actually can sing and do have a good voice.

These days Anybody can record an album and post produce it to sound like a top seller the real artists can get on the road an perform to the people who pay their wages.

With regards to sofware, I don't think software companies would have as many sales without pirate software. Students who persue careers in ITC industries can only learn from priated software as it prohibitively expensive to buy a version of a software which will be out of date by the time you've learnt it. These people generally go on to purchase a personal license or reccommend that their companies do.

qwertplaywert

Tbh if they keep pushing after torrents, other methods will just become more popular than they already are- i.e. newgroups, 1 click htp downloading, etc.

CorkFenian

Torrenting only for past year or so..Mainly for films, some top 10 ones but mainly documentaries.How much would people torrent here..I use the usual public sites....Have seen online talk of private ones??..Can someone explain for me my digitial footprint with regard to torrenting if I was to stop right now...Every time I research it, i feel fine about it..But friends who dont know anything about it always put the "You'll be caught" mentality on me...I use peer guardian 2 and tor..I know they're not 100% maybe a lot less...Would appreciate feedback on this...