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Deutsch: Three Strikes in Irland und Großbritannien

Irish Service Provider Eircom announced on 24 May 2010 its decision to introduce a voluntary graduate response procedure that would end up in shutting down broadband Internet connections of its clients who are considered to illegally download music.

The decision comes after the company concluded an out of court settlement with the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) in 2009 by which the ISP agreed to introduce a graduated response scheme for copyright infringers. Although challenged by the Data protection Commissioner, the mechanism was accepted by the High Court which ruled that broadband subscribers' internet protocol (IP) address did not constitute personal information.

Under the pilot scheme, Eircom customers illegally sharing copyrighted music will receive three warnings that may take the form of a letter, an email, a phone call or even a web popup, after which their broadband service will be cut off for a year. Eircom will process around 50 infringement notifications a week, at random.

Mark Mulligan of Forrester Research has pointed out the inefficiency of the system explaining that at a rate of 50 infringers per week chosen randomly, the odds of choosing the same infringers a second or third time were very small. "Unless genuinely compelling legal alternatives are in place (e.g., cheap, subsidised all-you-can-eat MP3 subscriptions), enforcement will do little other than accelerate the off-network trend" also added Mulligan who considers that the customers will simply give up Eircom services and go to a different provider. For instance to its competitor UPC which considers there is no legal basis for monitoring or blocking its subscribers' activities.

Reporters Without Borders commented: "The current tendency is to put Internet Service Providers at the centre of efforts to combat illegal downloading (...) This is also the case with the ACTA, the proposed international treaty against counterfeiting that is currently being discussed. The disastrous effect of these initiatives is to turn the ISP into an Internet policeman."

The situation is slightly different in UK but not much better. UK regulator Ofcom recently proposed a draft code of practice that would ask the major ISPs to draw lists of copyright infringers with names and number of infringing times. The creation of the code is included in the Digital Economy Bill and Ofcom said the code should come into force at the beginning of 2011.

According to the proposal, the music firms and movie studios can request details from the list in order to decide whether to start action against serial infringers. The draft code establishes how and when the ISPs covered by the code (initially fixed-line ISPs with over 400 000 subscribers) would send letter notifications to their subscribers informing them of allegations that their accounts have been used for copyright infringement.

Ofcom proposes a three stage notification process for ISPs to inform subscribers of copyright infringements and the inclusion on a list, required by a copyright owner, of subscribers which have received three notifications within a year.

The EDRi-member Open Rights Group together with the Communications Consumer Panel, Consumer Focus, Which? and Citizens Advice have drafted together a set of principles they believe should govern the code of practice in order to ensure that new rules on online copyright infringement properly protect consumers.

The principles say that sound evidence is needed before any action is taken and consumers must have the right to defend themselves. "It is imperative that a system that accuses people of illegal online activity is fair and clear," said Anna Bradley, chair of the Communications Consumer Panel.

"The aim should be to encourage suspected copyright infringers to use legal alternatives" stated Robert Hammond, head of Post and Digital communications at Consumer Focus while Jim Killock's, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, opinion is that the Government "needs to draw a clear line between the notifications and potential technical measures. Without this, the consequence of receiving a notification will be impossible to know. We also need clarity that customers will be told that running open community wifi networks is still completely legal and does not open the door to legal threats."

Ofcom has started a consultation on the proposals which will be concluded on 30 July.

Eircom to cut broadband over illegal downloads (24.05.2010)
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2010/0524/1224271013389....

Ireland debuts Fone-a-Freetard lottery- But what's the point, again? (28.05.2010)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/28/fone_a_freetard_flaw/

Pulling the plug is not the answer (31.05.2010)
http://www.digitalrights.ie/2010/05/31/pulling-the-plug-is-not-the-ans...

ISP introduces "graduated response" leading to disconnection for illegal downloaders (28.05.2010)
http://en.rsf.org/ireland-isp-introduces-graduated-response-28-05-2010...

Communications Consumer Panel: Online copyright infringement rules must protect consumers' rights, say leading UK consumer groups (28.05.2010)
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2010/05/28/4815651.htm

Draft code of practice to reduce online copyright infringement (28.05.2010)
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consumer/2010/05/draft-code-of-practice-to-red...

Ofcom unveils anti-piracy policy (28.05.2010)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10183820.stm

Ofcom 'letter writing' consultation is out: the Digital Economy Act rattles on (29.05.2010)
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2010/ofcom-letter-writing-consulta...

EDRI-gram: Irish ISP settled to introduce 3 strikes (11.02.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.3/3-strikes-ireland