liberty central's villain of the week: The Irish Recorded Music Association
Not content with having forced Eircom, Ireland's largest internet provider, to adopt a "three strikes" rule which will lead to customers being disconnected if they are repeatedly accused of illegal file-sharing, the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) is now threatening to sue other ISPs across the country if they do not follow suit.
The full details of the Eircom agreement only became clear when a letter sent by the IRMA – the body that represents labels including multinational giants EMI, Sony-BMG, Universal and Warne – to other Irish ISPs was leaked on the internet.
Alex French, the director of BitBuzz, Ireland's leading Wi-Fi service provider, described the agreement with Eircom as unprecedented. He asked: "Is the music industry planning to become Ireland's de facto internet censor?"
Critics point out that Pirate Bay, and other sites the IRMA are targeting have never been declared illegal in Ireland. The spectre of commercial organisations bowdlerising the net for their own purposes is worrying
Nominate your civil liberties villain of the week in the comments below.