(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Irish Internet service provider Eircom (www.eircom.ie) reached a settlement last week with four major record companies where the company will disconnect customers who download music illegally from the Internet, according to a report by The Globe and Mail.
EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner originally requested Eircom to install software from a US company to pinpoint the “fingerprint” of copyright-infringing music files distributed on its network.
However, Eircom was oncerned about the possiblity that the software would have tampered with its broadband service, as well as be in violation of privacy laws.
As an alternate solution, the company promised to cut service for any of its users who download music illegally after two warnings.
The settlement was reached after court proceedings on Wednesday, where the record companies agreed to hand over to Eircom the IP addresses of users they found are illegally uploading or downloading copyrighted works on a “peer-to-peer” basis.
In a joint statement with the record companies, Eircom said that the “High Court proceedings … have been settled on an amicable basis with both sides expressing satisfaction with the outcome.”
The company added that the “record companies have agreed that they will take all necessary steps to put similar agreements in place with all other Internet service providers in Ireland.”
Eircom is majority owned by Australia’s Babcock & Brown Capital and says it is Ireland’s largest telecommunications provider.
Willie Kavanagh, the head of the Irish Recorded Music Association and managing director of EMI Ireland said he was happy with the settlement.
In December, the Recording Industry Association of America gave up on mass lawsuits against Internet users who illegally download music and pledged instead to partner with ISPs to fight against piracy by asking ISPs to send out warning notices to these users.
Then last November, the owner of torrent search engine Isohunt.com asked the British Columbia Supreme Court to decide whether his website violates the Copyright Act of Canada after receiving letters from the Canadian Recording Industry Association that demanded he eliminate links to all copyrighted material.
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