Irish Government signs disastrous (SOPA) law to reinforce online copyright laws

[dirrty]

This is Labour Party junior Minister Sean Sherlock. It's probably not important that you remember his face because his career in Irish politics may soon be over.

Because today, to national and international outrage, Sherlock confirmed that SOPA (the highly controversial instrument that reinforces online copyrights laws in Ireland) has been signed into law.

Critics, which include most of the Irish voting public, have outlined how the SOPA legislation will limit internet freedom. Put plainly SOPA will limit your ability to blog, repost others content or even use a companies name without a trademark acknowledgement, opening the unsuspecting public up to a host of potential claims.

Online piracy won't miss a beat, but web standards like Facebook, Blogger, YouTube and so on will be put at risk.

It would help if the definitions of breach of copyright had been clearly defined, but that's not the case here at all. This legislation leaves you vulnerable to be be the subject of an injunction for even posting a song on a social network page.

So the gates are closing. Now we expect the corporations to start seeking injunctions against Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to block access to entire swathes of the internet right away.

What's particularly galling is the government's high handed act. In the United States they dropped SOPA legislation because voters objected, but in Ireland they just waited for the controversy to die down and railroaded it through.

I had hoped Ireland had learned enough in recent years to move beyond this style of governance.

Ireland has put itself forward as a center for excellence in technology.But the Irish Internet Service Providers’ Association (whose members include Google) have said that this legislation is not appropriate. Sherlock is the Minister for Research and Innovation, he has no background in the internet or tech sector at all.

Our political leaders, who also have no background in the area they just legislated for, also did not listen. The question is why not? Now our government has just enacted a law that profoundly impacts on the freedom to do business and free expressions of every company and every citizen in the nation.

80,419 Irish voters told Ministers Richard Bruton and Sean Sherlock that they were wrong to take this action. The damage the government has just done to Ireland's international reputation as a tech center can not be overstated. I would like to see them explain their move in a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg, for example - if it wasn't already abundantly clear how out of their depth they actually are.

Having ignored public outrage and allowed the banks to saddle the nation with insurmountable debt, it now seems our leaders want to ignore the public in every other sphere of their self expression too. This law will kill the Irish internet.

You can send Junior Minister Sherlock your response to the legislation at the following address:www.seansherlock.ie.

Read more:http://www.irishcentral.com/story/en...#ixzz1nzrQa36M

bolded parts for those tl;dr ppl, but looks like i bolded the majority of the article so w,e.

what's everyones opinion on this? thought this is a pretty important topic of discussion considering it's been passed in ireland (yeah, i know other places have done the opposite), but i doubt it's something that'll be disappearing anytime soon, sadly.

[dbgtz]

Why do they keep calling it SOPA when that is an American act, not international.

Either way Ireland has a terrible government, I don't think it takes a genius to work that out.

[Richie]

This is the first I have heard of this and I am actuallydevastated. Our government suck, it's run by a bunch of idiotic thugs in suits that think they know everything. It will all kick off eventually. As soon as people see what SOPA are actually doing it will kick off big time.

[Richie]

This is a really good video. I really hope change is somewhere around the corner.

[jasey]

This is a terrible move against freedom.

[JerseySafety]

I agree with Jasey - stealing heaps of stuff on people via illegally downloading isn't right I know, but theres no need to go to this sort of extreme.

Glad NZ government aren't going this - haven't even seen them talk about it.

[DPS]

Gutted for Ireland.. oh well.

Even if it was to happen in the UK i'd fine a way to still download stuff lol, so i kinda dont care. the goverment can suk my left nut

[Richie]

Hey,
I contacted Seán Sherlock explaining my concerns regarding the sopa law he passed and received this reply:

A Chara,

I would like to update you regarding the enactment of the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012.

I fully acknowledge the concerns that have been expressed by you regarding the introduction of the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 which were signed into law on 29th February, 2012. I wish to re-emphasise that it has been necessary to introduce this legislative measure to restate the position that was thought to exist in the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 regarding injunctions against intermediaries prior to the High Court Judgement of Justice Charleton in the case of EMI & others –v- UPC and to ensure that Ireland is compliant with our obligations under EU law.

I am satisfied that the High Court now has significant guidance in the implementation of this legislative measure arising from the underpinning EU Directives, as interpreted by the recent Court of Justice of the European Union case law, to ensure that any remedy provided will uphold the following principles:

• Freedom to conduct a business enjoyed by operators such as ISPs;
• The absolute requirement that an ISP cannot be required to carry out general monitoring on the information it carries on its network;
• Any measures must be fair and proportionate and not be unnecessarily complicated or costly;
• The fundamental rights of an ISPs’ customers must be respected, namely their right to protection of their personal data and their freedom to receive or impart information.

I am determined to ensure that Ireland will be a premier location where innovation can flourish and where innovation is facilitated by our copyright laws and data protection regime. In this regard, I am committed to reviewing and updating the Copyright legislation currently in place in order to strike the right balance between encouraging innovation and protecting creativity.

In this context, I am particularly anxious that the Consultation Paper of the Copyright Review Committee, which was launched on 29th February, 2012, is carefully studied by all interested parties to stimulate a constructive and well informed debate on these issues. This is a wide-ranging Consultation Paper which examines the current copyright legislative framework to identify any areas of the legislation that might be deemed to create barriers to innovation. The Consultation Paper is available to download at the following link: http://www.djei.ie/science/ipr/crc_statement.htm.

I would like to encourage the deepest engagement by all interested parties in the consultation process which has been launched in order to stimulate a constructive and well informed debate on all of the issues raised in this rapidly evolving area.

I am confident that the work being carried out by the Copyright Review Committee together with the interaction and input of all of the interested parties will result in establishing Irish copyright law on a firm footing to encourage innovation, foster creativity and meet the challenges of the future with confidence.

Yours sincerely,

Seán Sherlock TD
Minister for Research and Innovation

So either he is lying to me or it isn't as bad as we thought.

Thread Merged by ,Alpha, (Trialist Forum Moderator): There is already a thread on this topic, thanks

[GommeInc]

So either he is lying to me or it isn't as bad as we thought.

Or he's not read it, like many others who nearly signed it, or did sign it like in this case Is the legislation online somewhere to read? It seems like it could be pretty interesting to read to see what it is all about.

[Richie]

Or he's not read it, like many others who nearly signed it, or did sign it like in this case Is the legislation online somewhere to read? It seems like it could be pretty interesting to read to see what it is all about.

Not that I know of pal. I've been just looking at news sources and youtube videos (which aren't very reliable.