Music-swapping sites to be blocked by internet providers

Found on Sunday Business Post on Sunday, 22 February 2009
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Irish internet users are to be blocked from accessing music swapping websites, as internet service providers bow to pressure from the music industry.

The country's other internet providers have been told by the Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) to follow suit or face legal action.

Under the terms of an agreement between Eircom and Irma, Eircom will not oppose any court application, meaning that the orders will be automatically granted.

Ireland isn't exactly known for a lack of corruption. This could explain why Eircom bends over so easily and decided to join the group of companies to annoy their customers. In the end, they can't really do much. There's OpenDNS for DNS based blocks and torrents move too fast for IP based blocks. The good effect is that this will push the development of P2P networks forward.