Irish ISPs face legal action from majors

With Eircom having folded and told the big record labels that it would do whatever they asked of it, if you're looking for an ISP in Ireland and want one which puts your privacy ahead of the interests of international companies, you've still got a choice.

For now. Because the lawyer-happy music industry is now dragging BT Ireland and UPC to court to try and force them to introduce a 'three strikes' rule. To be fair, the majors have no choice but to behave in this manner, as part of their agreement with Eircom was that they'd try to ensure their competitors also had a three strikes rule so as not to put them at a competitive disadvantage.

Funny that, isn't it? The record companies try to tell us that three strikes is in everyone's interests, and that most people would welcome this sort of rule, and yet Eircom clearly feel that being the only company with three strikes on the book would cause customers to shun it to a worrying degree.

IRMA - which is the RIAA pretending to be interested in Ireland - are pressing ahead despite increasing evidence that throwing people off the internet is going to fall foul of European human rights legislation. It's not often I feel sorry for BT, but having to go to court to try and argue why it doesn't really want to find itself in court in Strasbourg seems a little unfair.