Bigbro's foray into the scary world of blogging
There has been significant media coverage of the Eircom settlement with the record industry here in Ireland recently. To summarise, it appears that some kind of 'three strikes' rule has been brought in, where the record industry can notify Eircom of people illegally sharing copyrighted materials and Eircom will firstly warn them, secondly warn them more strongly and thirdly disconnect their internet connection. I use the word 'appears' deliberately, since the agreement is a secret out-of-court settlement, seeming to lack any judicial oversight, any right to trial or right to appeal, and even the transparency to see what exactly has been agreed.
It looks like New Zealand will impose a similar system starting 28th Feb, unless some political weight can be brought to bear on the process. In an attempt to educate and encourage this, thousands of New Zealanders are mounting a web protest by blacking out their avatars on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, personal websites and blogs. Check out the Internet Blackout website for more information. I'm not aware of anything similar happening in Ireland yet, but time will tell.
posted at: 08:52 | path: | permanent link to this entry
