Another political Gobshite.

So, he tells us all this will definitely not result in website blocking or restrictions on users’ freedom.

Yet, he admits here that the reason the SI has been drafted is to allow the injunction of website blocking and three-strikes sought by EMI etc. against UPC.

He just doesn’t seem to understand what he’s doing with this, and how much of an affect it could have on internet usage in Ireland for businesses and everyday users. Piracy should be dealt with and while I don’t have all the answers I don’t think this is the way it should be done.

Giving power to the entertainment industry who can sink money and time into their cases with ease is a terrible idea, on top of that is there a clear definition of what constitutes copyright infringement?

The posting youtube links on blogs/social media will probably come under fire but how is that different to me using free internet radio stations (like lastFM) to play music to my friends? Before anything else happens, double standards like this need to be addressed.

Such utter bullshit.

Funny how when the Internet is starting to become a tool by which activists are using to make there voice heard, all of a sudden legislations are being brought out by governments to restrict the freedom of it.

I really wish Google and Facebook and the other large corporations whose interests aren’t being served by this legislation would pick up the phone and say “eh, if that goes through, we’re looking for a new European HQ – tell that uppity little muppet to stop trying to make a name for himself and get back in his box.”

Lets be clear:

It is grossly “out of balance” and out of kilter with natural justice that conglomerates of deep pocketed rights holders pay lobbyists and law firms to literally sculpt an economic context where they profit more, at the expense of a plethora of services.

As Tim O’Reilly said: “Please don’t write laws that protect 19th century industries against 21st-century disruption!”

Arguably, based upon the logic of this bill, electricity providers have played a part in “copyright theft” by providing energy to homes and ISPs. Are whole families electricity supplies going to be cut off so that giant media companies can get their way?

When are our politicians going to wake up and realise that in the digital realm, scarcity does not exist. A song can be replicated infinite times and everyone on the planet can listen to it. When there is infinite supply, only monopolistic models allow high prices. We need economic models that fairly reward creators of great content based upon the usage of such, not means to block people from accessing information so that greedy middlemen can aggregate more power.

If scribes had their way in the 15th century, Guttenburgs printing press may never have made it, and we’d all be still be living in the dark ages. These new laws are a modern equivalent to blocking the printing press by inhibiting the free flow of information.

Imagine voting out fianna fail but EVEN WORSE, voting IN the blueshirts! Bet you guys are happy now!
get these blueshirt fuckers out!

I don’t understand why EMI brought the suit against UPC here in Ireland – UPC is a Dutch company (and a global one too) and if, as Sherlock is saying, the copyright laws are already in place everywhere in Europe, why didn’t EMI file its lawsuit everywhere else – in every European country and even the rest of the world (UPC even has the US presence as Liberty media)?

The Internet should be free from political interference, whats going on here is some international thinktank told the governments the possible future use of the Internet, money and profit is to be made and to stop people from getting entertainment for free they need new laws to restrict the peoples means to access it through piracy, the Internet is not only for tv shows and movies its a enormous tool to the development of the human race, and because of these grossly unsuitable leaders that don’t have the foresight to see this we might lose the most valuable tool since the invention of the printing press to money and greed. Its a very sad day if this gets passed into law.

Creating any legal context where a persons internet access can be revoked is as savage as blinding a person because they looked at something, that according to a third parties preferences, they were not supposed to.

Just as glasses allow a person with poor eyesight to see (including that which may be copyrighted material), so too will an internet connection allow a person to access information of all kinds in the future (including that which may be “copyrighted material”).

If you think it is disproportionate that a media company can make someone blind for watching something they can argue is “copyrighted”, it must be disproportionate to have any legal basis for kicking someone off the internet, which will “digitally blind” them.

If we halved the age of all the people making these decisions, we may have people who actually knew what they were talking about, instead of senior partners who have to get their kids to help them sync their blackberries with their laptops. Instead, they make recommendations when their kids know more than they do.

I posted this on facebook but rather than keeping it hidden there…

He’s incorrect and clearly doesn’t understand the actual effect of the statutory instrument that he’s proposing. What’s worse is that his advisors and department mandarins clearly don’t understand it either.

A Dáil discussion probably adds very little – it’s a statutory instrument so doesn’t need a vote. And, unfortunately, I suspect that the other side (half made up of idiots, after all) doesn’t understand the effect of the SI either. The principle of proportionality is broken under this SI. Copyright holders will have the right to push their powers under the new law to the absolute limit, making this effectively an Irish SOPA. There is no requirement for affected parties to be given notice of an application to block them. In the absence of actual requirements for a blocking application, it creates a vague system whereby continued Internet access and hosting will be in the jurisdiction of individual judges, placing ISPs and content providers in a position where the goal posts are arbitrary. Hence, it short-circuits the democratic process and places an unfair burden of guesswork on people. Above all, it creates an intolerable uncertainty on content providers and individual citizens.

It’s a badly constructed statutory instrument, introduced without sufficient oversight and without sufficient safeguards, written by people who fundamentally misunderstand its effect. Sean Sherlock’s email is sean.sherlock@oir.ie and Richard Bruton’s (as the senior minister) is minister@deti.ie

I literally can’t understand why anyone would want this!! It seems as if the people putting this in place aren’t really sure what the hell they’re doing in the first place.. I have feeling that if this gets passed, it’ll be undone when they get home and the kids of these people who thought of this ridiculous act are being arrested

Total crap tell them to f off! This is record companies lobbying govt with cash. File sharing is our right.

Oh dear, the man responsible for passing legislation on the internet doesn’t even know what ISP stands for… clue, it’s not Information Service Provider…

Can we not mould the EU directive or is it like the Soviet Union imposing rule on its weak dominions? Can we not say no, or propose alternatives? How do these nasty crippling, authoritarian sounding directives work?

The services provided by the ISP’s in Ireland are an absolute joke!
Eircom failed to roll out broadband in a sufficient manner, UPC can only cater to new and upgraded areas of populous and the national broadband scheme did little to improve the situation.

I barely trust them to continuously provide the measly 3MB speed I can get currently, let alone my right to access it!

Sean your father Joe will turn in his grave over this. Stop being the lackey of very big business.

Might I suggest everyone spends 5 minutes looking at this great Video on ACTA which explains everything in terms we can all understand? A far as I understand Seán Sherlocks legislation does pretty much the same thing here in Ireland. Not that it matters when ACTA comes into force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8Xg_C2YmG0