15^th Apr 2013: New wave of police fine virus catches out victims in Ireland.

Over the last few weeks ISPAI's Hotline service has received numerous reports from people whose computers have become locked down by this virus. When infected, a message is displayed purporting to be from An Garda Síochána demanding that a fine should be paid for a fabricated online offence. Instructions are given to pay the fine using an e-payment service, on receipt of which, your computer will be unlocked. No surprise that victims have told Hotline.ie staff that despite paying the fine their computer remained locked.

For further details Click here.

2^nd Apr 2013: EuroISPA high level statement on the proposed General Data Protection Regulation.

The changes in European data protection regulations, when adopted by the European process, must be directly implemented in member states. The regulations will impact providers of consumer electronic services which are delivered over the Internet and potentially, depending on detail of new requirements, the online experience of users of those services.

EuroISPA (of which ISPAI is a full Member) is strongly in favor of the review of the data protection framework. Our industry relies on an effective protection of personal data to build trust with users in our services. The protection of personal data is and will, in the future, increasingly be an important competition tool for businesses to compete with each other to gain consumers’ confidence by offering services that allow easier control and access to their personal data.

However, we have some serious concerns with some of the proposed regulations as they currently stand. Read full statement here.

30^th Jan 2013 (Update 20^th Feb 2013): ISPAI reaction to NNI assertions on link charges.

Recently National Newspapers Ireland has made a statement “clarifying” their submission to the Copyright Review Committee Consultation. In this, they reiterate their assertion that payments ought to be made to a newspaper when another commercial entity provides links on their website to that paper’s online content.

ISPAI holds that links are fundamental to the working of the web. No commercial impediment should exist to their use. They merely provide a direction to the original content. They do not reproduce content. Therefore copyright licence fees cannot be expected for providing this public information. NNI’s claim has attracted very negative comment from abroad which does not help Ireland’s efforts to promote itself as a good place to do digital business.

We feel so strongly about this issue that we have written to the Minister of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, who is responsible for the review of Irish copyright law with copies to relevant ministerial colleagues.

14^th Dec 2012: European ISP Associations regret the failure of the World Conference on International Telecommunications ("WCIT") to agree new treaty.

EuroISPA, of which ISPAI is a member, regrets the failure of the World Conference on International Telecommunications ("WCIT") to agree an acceptable new Treaty, and strongly supports the decision of EU Member States to refuse to sign up to an expanded scope for International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs).

EuroISPA saw the WCIT as a chance to promote the benefits of competitive and liberalised telecommunications markets, which are achieving so much within the EU and other developed nations and could offer so much to the developing world. Sadly, the ITU Member States chose instead to expand the scope of the International Telecommunications Regulations, risking harm to innovation and growth as well as watering down internationally agreed standards on human rights. Europe was left with no choice but to reject this approach.

EuroISPA opposes extending the ITRs to cover Internet governance, and supports the existing multi-stakeholder model that has proven so successful.

EuroISPA also regrets the blatant attempts seen at WCIT by some of the world's most authoritarian regimes to use concerns about spam and security to legitimise their repressive controls on Internet content, and to use United Nations agencies to extend the effective reach of their power.

Malcolm Hutty, President of EuroISPA said: "This was a missed opportunity to extend the benefits of competitive and liberalised markets, but the blame lies with those non-European governments that insisted on creating new rights for governments instead of focusing on what's good for end users".

12^th Nov 2012: Call on EU President Barroso to recognise Internet and Digital Economy as driver of economic growth.

EuroISPA, Cable Europe, ECTA, ETNO, and GSMA, have written to President Barroso in relation to the forthcoming Annual Growth Survey 2013 and provided him with our joint statement which may be found here.

The signatories call on him to recognise the Digital Economy and our industry as THE main driver for European economic recovery by referencing it in the Annual Growth Survey. We firmly believe that the Digital Economy should be a central element of the Annual Growth Survey, to underline Europe’s confidence in the potential for innovation, employment and growth driven by technology adoption.

25^th Oct 2012: EU ISPs concern at Clean IT's proposals to counter terrorist ideals being promoted on the Internet.

The Clean IT project is a controversial project carried out with the financial backing of the European Commission, aimed at tackling online terrorism through voluntary measures and ‘self-regulation’. In a recent leaked document, discussions which have taken place thus far appear to be contradictory to the original aims of the project, and ISPAI along with the other EuroISPA members, is sceptical as to the approach which the project now seems to be taking.

The draft recommendations made by the Clean IT Project so far have suggested a need for more liability and network surveillance (blocking/filtering) from ISPs. Some of the more worrying suggested proposals include:

• ISPs to be liable for not making “reasonable” efforts to use technological surveillance to identify “terrorist” use of the Internet
• Companies providing end-user filtering systems and their customers to be held liable for failing to report “illegal” activity identified by the filter
• Governments should use the helpfulness of ISPs as a criterion for awarding public contracts
• Removal of any legislation preventing filtering/surveillance of employees’ Internet connections
• Companies should implement upload filters to monitor uploaded content to make sure that content that is removed – or content that is similar to what is removed – is not re-uploaded

4^th July 2012: EU Parliament rejects ACTA.

This morning the EU Parliament voted to reject ACTA. The result was 478 MEPs voted against ACTA, 39 were in favour of adopting it and there were 165 abstentions. Despite 22 EU member states including Ireland having signed the Agreement, this vote means it cannot now be ratified by any EU country. ISPAI recognises the need for international agreements to protect business from counterfeit goods and to deter piracy of copyrighted works but ACTA had a poorly thought out one size fits all approach (due to online copyright piracy being shoe-horned in at a later stage) which was simply not practical for the Internet environment. Key issues for MEPs were lack of clarity defining scale for online piracy and protection of users fundamental rights. While ISPs would agree with such principles, industry had practical concerns that ACTA appeared to require ISPs to provide customer data to rights-holders and to impose sanctions against alleged infringing customers without court involvement.

Click here for a video of the vote and the reaction of parliamentarians. (Jump to time 12:51:30, about 6 minutes)

The EuroISPA press release is available here.

21^st June 2012: EU Parliament INTA Committee rejects ACTA.

No parliamentary groups proposed that INTA (the International Trade Committee of the European Parliament) should adopt ACTA with its current wording relating to online copyright infringement. An amendment was proposed to suspend the vote but this was rejected. The final vote was on the recommendation by the rapporteur for rejection of ACTA and this was carried 19 votes to 12 with no abstentions.

Click here to view a two minute EuroparlTV report summarising the arguments for and against ACTA.

Click here to view a video of the vote. (Jump to time 11:28:00).

On July 4th ACTA will go to the plenary vote of the Parliament where the recommendations of committees are usually followed. If the Parliament rejects ACTA, the earlier signing of this trade agreement by member states will be annulled.

31^st May 2012: EU Parliament Committees ask for rejection of ACTA.

This morning three committees of the European Parliament asked for rejection of ACTA.

Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home affairs:
36 in favour of rejecting ACTA, 1 against and 21 abstentions.

Legal Affairs Committee:
12 in favour of rejecting ACTA, 10 against.

Industry Committee:
31 in favour of rejecting ACTA, 25 against

These committees were asked to give an opinion on whether the lead committee for International Trade (INTA) should give its consent or not to the Treaty

This does not constitute a final vote but could already be considered as quite positive for the vote in INTA that is to take place on 21st June. The final vote in plenary is scheduled for early July.

24^th November 2011: ISPAI welcomes clarification provided by European Court ruling.

The European Court of Justice has today published its judgement that.... "EU law precludes an injunction made against an internet service provider requiring it to install a system for filtering all electronic communications passing via its services which applies indiscriminately to all its customers, as a preventive measure, exclusively at its expense, and for an unlimited period.”

Follow this link for the ISPAI press release on this judgement.

ISPAI is a part of EuroISPA, for the European perspective on today's judgement, please see the EuroISPA press release here.

The Judgement detail can be found here.

30^th June 2011: Hotline Annual Report launched by Minister for Justice

The Hotline.ie Annual Report 2011 was officially launched by the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, T.D. yesterday (Wednesday, 29th June). The Report reinforces the message that member ISPs will do everything in their power to ensure that illegal content on their services is removed as quickly as possible once they are notified. The success of the efforts of all the parties involved is exemplified by the statistics contained within the report.

During the period 1st January to 31st December 2010 we saw a decrease - for the third consecutive year - in the number of cases of illegal content being encountered by Internet users, despite the fact that there was an increase in the number of overall reports submitted to the Hotline.

The statistics contained in the report highlight the speed at which the system which ISPs use to remove illegal content works. The relatively low number of cases of illegal content hosted in Ireland shows that it is too risky a place for criminals to distribute this type of content from. Two cases of illegal content hosted in Ireland is extremely low, considering that overall broadband usage in Ireland increased during the year (it increased by 4% to 96% of all Internet subscribers in the country). When viewed in the light of the statistics from other countries, where other methods are used to deal with illegal content, it reinforces the message that the system implemented here by ISPs is an extremely effective one which protects Internet users while not restricting their freedom to access information.

The full report is available here: http://www.hotline.ie/rep2011.pdf.

RTE TV news coverage of the report and launch event is available at http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0629/internet.html.

21^st June 2011: Issue of prescription medicines on the Web

    Over the last few days ISPAI members have been receiving requests from campaigners to suppress information about abortion medicines that exists on the Internet. Previously there have been similar calls about other prescription medicines.

    One particular site has been targeted by this latest campaign. The content of this website is not illegal and is hosted in Canada by a Women's organisation. ISPAI members in Ireland will not block legal information that exists on the Web.

    If for whatever reason, a person in Ireland decides to import prescription medicines into this country from unauthorised sources, their action has nothing to do with the Internet connection services provided by ISPs in this country. Any enforcement action that may be required on such importation is dealt with by the Revenue Commissioners, Customs and Excise Service in cooperation with the Irish Medicines Board and the postal/courier services.

    ISPAI members provide Internet connection services as "mere conduits" under European and national e-Commerce law. It is the choice of every Internet user as to what websites they visit and by so doing cause the transfer of that content from the country of origin (where it is hosted) on to their computers and to display it on their screen. ISPs do not monitor content requests of customers nor suppress information which may exist on the Internet that "in itself" is not illegal; unless an order to so do has been made through proper judicial process in the courts of this jurisdiction.

Irish Wireless Conference and Expo - 31^st Mar. 2011
Louis Fitgerald Hotel, Naas Road, Dublin.

The full conference agenda is available here.

For further information and registration details click on the conference logo above.

24^th Feb. 2011: ISPAI welcomes Minister Hanafin's clarification on Copyright amendment proposals.

The ISPAI was very pleased to read the assurance given by Mary Hanafin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, that she will not be signing any Statutory Instrument to amend Copyright laws in advance of the next Dáil. We particularly welcome that she emphasised the need for full consultation prior to ammendments being drafted and her expectation of that taking place when the Department and the new Minister have a clearer view of the best way forward on this issue.

ISPAI wishes to reiterate that it does not condone the use of member's Internet services by users to obtain unauthorised copies of copyrighted works. We recognise that laws must be reviewed to meet the demands of an evolving technological society but the complexities demand that the economic impact of proposed amendments are carefully weighed up through full consulation of all affected parties.

The ISPAI looks forward to the opporunity of working with the Minster of the newly elected government and their officials in the Department on this matter. Finding a constructive way forward, in line with the application of Directives by other European Union member states, is essential for Ireland to keep an environment condusive to the growth of employment within the Internet-based "knowledge economy".

23^rd Feb. 2011: ISPAI shocked by rumours of rushed Copyright Statutory Instrument to be made law before this government is dissolved".

ISPAI was contacted by national press today regarding information received from a Government source that an urgent statutory instrument was near completion to amend the Copyright Law and pass this before the Government was dissolved. Requried, they were told, to ensure Ireland would be in compliance with European legislative requirements identified by last year's case taken by recording companies against UPC. The journalists were enquiring whether ISPAI had been consulted as the government spokesperson had implied industry views had been sought.

ISPAI can categorically state that no one from Department of Enterprise and Employment or any other Government Department has contacted ISPAI about this matter since before the UPC case. If these rumours are correct, ISPAI is quite taken aback that such serious matters should be a rushed through in the final hours of a government term and that ISPAI as the representative body of ISPs (and well known to Government) were not consulted on a matter directly concerning our members.

Any legislation prescribing measures to be applied by ISPs, to address alleged copyright infringements by Internet users, requires very careful consideration. ISPAI believes strongly that full consultation with all affected industry parties is necessary. Given the time scales of the national court cases involved and especially as closely related issues are before the European Court (SABAM vs. Scarlet - Belgium), an SI seems unwarranted right now and is being drafted with inappropriate haste.

It is vital that Government ensures a balanced approach and takes care that legislative measures do not have wider implications that could adversely affect the perception of Ireland to inward investors of Internet and digital e-commerce businesses - the knowledge economy - the very kind of enterprise we are endeavouring to attract to build employment and drive our way out of the current recession.

If the rumours are correct, ISPAI asks why is this matter is not being left to the next Government?

18^th Oct. 2010: EuroISPA releases "Position Of Principles On Intellectual Property Rights".

EuroISPA has released a paper "Position Of Principles On Intellectual Property Rights" which summarises the principles adopted at the meeting of its Council of Member Associations held 23&24 September 2010 in Vienna. The full paper is available here.

14^th Oct. 2010: ISPAI welcomes result of (Commercial) High Court decision published on 11^th October.

The recently published court decision upholding the "mere conduit" status of ISPAI member UPC Ireland as a provider of Internet access services is welcomed by the ISPAI.

ISPAI does not in any way condone the misuse of ISP's Internet services by persons to obtain copyrighted works for free. This is reflected within the acceptable usage policies in members' contracts with customers. ISPs do not control what data is available to customers on the Internet and ISPs must respect the privacy of the content of their customers' communications which pass over our networks. Indeed ISPs throughout Europe often offer legal music services to their customers through their service portals.

The Court decision upholds the ISPAI view that there is no legal basis under Irish law that requires an ISP to monitor or block subscriber traffic or undertake actions leading to the disconnection of subscribers on allegations made by private bodies. We firmly believe this is also the case in European Law as it applies to this issue. Claims of infringement by rights owners must be taken against those responsible for the infringement - not ISPs that are legitimate businesses - and these allegations must be subject to due judicial process. ISPAI members respect court orders so made to release subscriber names and addresses to the court so proceedings may be pursued.

The Internet has changed the business world for ever. This fact has been embraced by governments and countless other industries in the provision of their services. ISPAI believes the recording industry must also move to embrace this changed world. This is the kind of evolutionary change that other entertainment businesses had to accept when recording technology changed the music world for ever in the early 20^th century.

Our position remains as described in our position statement of March 2009.

17^th Jun. 2010: ISPAI position remains that copyright infringers are responsible for their actions.

ISPAI fully supports member organisation UPC in its stance in defending its position of "mere conduit" as a provider of Internet access services. We have stated these priniciples on many occassions to the media and on this site. (See lower right column for statement triggered by Music Industry calls to block The Pirate Bay in August 2009.)

ISPAI reiterates that it does not in any way condone the use of ISP's Internet services for the infringement of copyright. If rightsholders wish to take action against persons they allege are infringing their works, that action must be taken against the alleged infringer. It should not be taken against ISPs who are "mere conduits" providing a public communications services. The ISP companies are not infringing the music companies' works and therefore action taken against ISPAI members is completely spurious. Indeed, where legal action has been taken against Irish subscribers alleged to have been breaking copyright, ISPAI members have complied with court orders to identify the subscriber involved to the Irish courts.

There is no legal basis under either Irish or European law that requires an ISP to monitor or block subscriber traffic or block any websites on the allegations of a private body. ISPAI members have always complied with requirements made of them through proper judicial process and it is vital for an open democratic society that these processes apply equally to citizens' use of the Internet as to any other walk of life. This fundamental rule of law should not be bypassed simply because it might be awkward. If legislation must be changed to keep pace with modern developments, then this may be done through the Oireachtas but any such changes must uphold that is the courts of this land that decide if somebody is guilty or not guilty of alleged wrong doing and to decide the appropriate punishment as laid down in law.

While some of our members find themselves being placed under injunctive positions in specific cases, this does not change our belief in the principles outlined above. ISPAI also wishes to reiterate its position that the recorded entertainment industry must adapt to the changing world, just as countless other businesses have done, and develop innovative business models that exploit the power of the Internet and provide more attractive services expected by their customers in the 21^st century.

25^th Feb. 2010: PRECEDENT OF ITALIAN COURT CONVICTION OF GOOGLE EXECUTIVES OF GRAVE CONCERN TO ISPs

ISPAI is very alarmed by the ruling of an Italian judge that three Google executives were criminally responsible for an online video of an autistic teenager being bullied posted by a user of their service. Paul Durrant, General Manager of ISPAI said, “this verdict potentially has serious consequences for Internet Service Providers. It seems to challenge the fundamental principles, protected in the European Union by the eCommerce Directive, that access and hosting providers and online services such as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are not responsible for the content that users upload”.

The verdict, the first of its kind, sets a very dangerous precedent which implies that ISPs (in Italy at least) must somehow police content placed on their services. It is also worrying that the three Google employees who had nothing to do with the filming or uploading of the video now have a criminal record. This will be of concern to ISP personnel everywhere.

Google have decided to appeal the verdict and we anxiously await the result of those proceedings. However, if the ruling stands interested parties may seek similar rulings in other EU jurisdictions, including Ireland, against ISPs who as commercial entities would face massive liabilities and the associated costs this would entail.

24^th Feb. 2010: EUROPEAN ISPs FEAR THAT INTERNATIONAL TRADE AGREEMENT CUTS EU CITIZENS' INTERNET PROTECTION.

14^th Dec. 2009: Industry Expert Group joint statement on Data Retention implementation.

The Telecoms and Internet Industry members of the European Commission Expert Group on Data Retention point out the lack of harmonisation achieved in the implementation of the Data Retention Directive and the considerable implications this has on competition and differing costs of communications services to the public across the EU.

20^th Oct. 2009: EuroISPA statement on Amendment 138 of Telecoms Package.

The European Association of Internet Service Providers (EuroISPA) urges the European Parliament to continue to support citizens’ Fundamental Rights.

EuroISPA strongly supports the principles laid down by the amendment 138 as adopted by the European Parliament in its second reading with an overwhelming majority. We believe that unrestricted access to the Internet is an integral part of Fundamental Freedoms, providing a secure business environment and protecting citizens’ civil liberties.

Any restriction of an individual to those rights should only be taken following a prior judicial ruling. Only a court can guarantee a proportionate, balanced decision, respectful of the Fundamental Rights of Information, Privacy and Communication.

Being a matter of Fundamental Rights for European citizens and businesses, it would be unwise to give Member States excessive scope regarding the application of the relevant rules. Otherwise, there is a considerable risk of varying and arbitrary implementation, the result of which would damage both citizens' rights and the Single Market.

23^rd Apr. 2009: Fraudulent e-mail warning

Don't let the con artist burn your e-mail account.
Many customers of ISPAI members have recently received e-mails purporting to have been sent from their ISP. These state that the customer's connection has been detected as having sent spam or viruses or illegally downloaded music. (There are a number of different wordings in circulation). These go on to request various personal details such as your e-mail account, e-mail password, bank details, etc. supposedly so the ISP can reset your account to prevent this happening again.

These e-mails are scams. They have not been sent by your ISP. Your ISP will never ask you for passwords and such private data in an unsolicited e-mail. Do not be fooled. Do NOT respond to such e-mails. If in doubt, ask your ISP by telephoning their customer service desk or completing a query form on their support website. Never click to a support webpage connected by a link provided in such an e-mail.

16^th Dec. 2008: Mobile phones: A parent's guide to safe and sensible use.

ISPAI members O2, Meteor, 3 and Vodafone, as mobile operators in the Republic of Ireland, join forces to launch a new safety booklet for parents through the Irish Cellular Industry Association. A parent's guide to safe and sensible use of mobile phones is designed to help parents understand how children are using their phones and the issues they face. It provides clear tips for parents to assist their children get the most out of their phones while teaching them to be alert to potential dangers and keep themselves safe. The full booklet is available for download here. (pdf 1.4 Mb)

1^st Oct 2008: Anonymous report to ISPAI hotline.ie leads to demise of child pornography websites registered in Australia.

ISPAI and ACMA are delighted to reveal the successful international hotline, ISP industry and police cooperation that led to the termination of a network of related illegal websites selling child abuse imagery on the Internet. The power of the public to instigate action was clearly shown when a single report received in Ireland resulted in this decisive action in Australia. Read full press release here.

11^th Apr 2013: ISPAI welcomes Google’s New Play Music Store

On foot of the announcement of its arrival yesterday, the ISPAI are delighted to welcome Google’s new Play Music Store to the Irish market. Joining eircom’s Music Hub, Spotify and Apple’s iTunes store, it widens Irish consumer choice in the legal online music marketplace. Calling for deals between rights-holders and online companies to develop innovative online music services has been one of the main pillars of ISPAI’s policy to tackle online copyright infringement. Hearing of another market entrant is music to our ears! Read full statement here.

Safer Internet Day 2013 takes place on Tuesday 5^th. February.

It will be marked throughout the European Union and many other countries worldwide. This is the 10^th. year where a Safer Internet Day has been held and this year's theme is: "Connect with respect".

The ISPAI supports the aim of Safer Internet Day to raise awareness of the issues that children can face when using the Internet and the simple steps they and their parents or guardians should take to help them keep safe and enjoy their Internet experience.

The ISPAI's www.hotline.ie service, in conjunction with our partners in Safer Internet Ireland (SII), will partake in events to mark the day here in Ireland which are being organised by SII partner "Webwise".

However, creating user awareness and encouraging safer Internet practice is an ongoing objective which ISPAI members take seriously 365 days a year. We achieve this by financing Hotline.ie (www.hotline.ie) at national level and contributing to INHOPE (www.inhope.org) at an international level.

16^th Nov 2012: ISPAI welcomes launch of independent online music store "Spotify" in the Irish market.

ISPAI warmly welcomes the official arrival of independent online music stores in Ireland with the launch this week of the Irish service of "Spotify". The Association has long called for such a move, stating that the provision of innovative online music distribution services is the way of the future. While we already have facilities such as eircom music hub and iTunes, which are tied to customers of a particular service or equipment brand, this differs as its users can be connected through any Irish ISP. We also believe that the "premium service" which allows downloading of purchases for offline use in this more open environment is a major step forward by the particpating members of the music industry.

Looking forward, we would like to see the development of competition in this marketplace to give further consumer choice. We believe that it is with these legal innovative services that the overwhelming majority of music lovers will desist from trying to obtain illicit copies on the Internet. We reiterate that ISPAI has never condoned the sharing of unlicensed copies of music or other works on the Internet and are delighted to see the Irish public being given this very attractive legal alternative.

31^st Oct 2012: Changing Internet governance? International Telecommunication Regulations being revised

The International Telecommunications Regulations will be up for discussion in Dubai in December at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12). Changes which are implemented as a result of these revisions will shape the regulatory environment of the Internet and telecommunications for the foreseeable future.

Some of the proposals put forward thus far would involve extending the jurisdiction of the ITU in relation to rules on international charging arrangements for Internet services; a framework for cybersecurity; requiring ISPs to disclose routing and other network management information to regulators and/or ITU; enabling the ITU to distribute domain names and IPv6 numbers and shifting responsibility for Internet standards toward the ITU and away from existing voluntary technical organisations.

ISPAI and our colleagues at EuroISPA believe that any amendments to the ITRs “should not undermine the success of the Internet, its open, competitive and innovative nature”.

For more background information and to view the EuroISPA Statement on the ITR’s revision please visit http://euroispa.org/component/content/article?id=72

Update: 6^th March ISPAI is disappointed that the Government chose to ignore the ISP industry, many legal practioners and the large number of Internet users who asked that the Copyright SI should not be signed in its present form. However, he has done so and With Ireland being the European headquarters for many multinational Internet businesses, we are now just waiting for the first few test cases to be lodged.
We believe the SI was not necessary at this time, especially as Minister Bruton last year established the Copyright Review Committee to thoroughly examine the Copyright law in relation to innovation - a move that ISPAI welcomed as a very positive initiative.
After the SI has been signed into effect this reply was received from Minister Bruton's office to address the concerns we raised in our letter of January 27^th (scroll down to see update of that date where there is a link to our letter).
ISPAI attended the Committee's consultation meeting held in TCD last July to provide our preliminary input. We will be making a submission to the consultation which has just been opened to provide our views on their initial report.

Update: 17^th Feb. ISPAI welcomes the ruling of the European Court of Justice published yesterday. It brings clarification to the situation of hosting providers whose services are used to serve third party data. It reinforces the interpretation of the e-commerce directive that ISPs can not be expected to generally monitor customer data for the possibility of that data being copyrighted content which is being used without appropriate permissions. It also brings in to question what might be achieved by the pending SI. ISPAI believes any amendment to copyright law requires careful consideration as to its implications and should only be made through primary legislation.

Update: 8^th Feb. 13:00 The ISPAI is very disappointed by the sensationalist references in press and online blogs in the last few days confusing actions ISPs take on different issues. We wish to emphasise there is a world of difference between pre-emtive take-down of criminally illegal content such as child abuse material, reaction to allegations of third party copyright infringements and installation of software systems for parental control of their children's access to age inappropriate content.

Update: 3^rd Feb. 14:00 The Cabinet are due to discuss the S.I. on Tuesday 7th Feb. ISPAI issued this press release to explain why we believe introduction of the copyright S.I. will have a detrimental affect on ISPs and the location of innovative Internet services and the jobs they would otherwise bring to Ireland.

Update: 1^st Feb. 18:00 The Dáil debate took place last night and ISPAI was very disappointed at the Minister's insistence that he will sign this SI irrespective of proposals for alternative wording and calls from TDs for more full debate on this vital issue. Many people are confused about what Internet intermediaries (ISPs and many online services) have to fear about this SI. So we have produced this explanatory document.

There have been disparaging remarks made by supporters of the SI that all those against it are proponents of a "wild-west" Internet. ISPAI represents respectable ISP businesses who provide reliable and properly run services to the public; in no way do we accept or promote that view but nevertheless have very valid reasons to oppose imposition of a hastily produced SI. Equally we are dismayed and do not wish to be associated with extreme elements (always present on any matter) who in opposing the SI have directed insulting language at the Minister, carried out DoS attacks or are making threats against government and other web-sites. Such behaviour is unacceptable.

Update: 27^th 18:00 ISPAI understands the SI will be discussed at Cabinet and a Dáil debate has been set for later in the week. We have written a brief letter to Ministers to remind them of our concerns, asking for the S.I. to be rejected and to consider alternatives from the forthcoming report of the consultation run by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The letter is available here.

Update: 26^th 12:49 It's now published http://www.djei.ie/press/2012/20120126a.htm#.TyFLEtDRS9w.twitter and regrettably our concerns have not been alleviated.

Update: 26^th Jan. 2012: ISPAI welcomes Minister Sherlock's announcement that a draft text of the proposed Satutory Instrument will be published today. However, this deserves adequate time for study and proper debate in the Dáil. The ISPAI is very concerned that hastily drafted and overly-broad wording would lead to uncertainty for Internet business - and that's the last thing we need if Ireland is to develop as a centre for digital business with its related creation of jobs.

Remembering that the whole issue was initiated as Justice Charleton's opinion in the EMI vs UPC case highlighted a difficulty with the Irish transposition of the EU Directive and that this issue was a matter for clarification through the legislature. By implication, this means the S.I. should not be a broad approach which simply bounces the ball back to the courts to decide on each case.

20^th Jan. 2012: ISPAI welcomes Minister's assurances that forthcoming SI will not create a SOPA-like situation in Ireland.

If a legal requirement exists for the introduction of a Statutory Instrument, ISPAI believes that this must be very carefully balanced to ensure that it does not create an environment of uncertainty for Internet based business located in Ireland.

A more detailed ISPAI statement is available here.

14^th May 2012: ISPAI Hotline.ie warns Web users of latest scams.

Under a long standing agreement with Government, ISPAI runs Hotline.ie which provides a confidential service for the public to report illegal content (such as web sites containing images of child sexual abuse or incitement to hatred) so swift action may be taken. While Hotline.ie does not specifically deal with spam, it does accept reports of financial scams exploiting our members' hosting or email services. However, most reports of scams received come from outside the country and, other than warning people to be vigilant, as we are doing in this case, little can be done by ISPs to prevent these.

Over the last month or so, one particular scam has drawn our attention because it's exploiting that the summer holiday season is approaching and many are booking hotels online.

Criminals are spamming fake hotel reservation receipts which have a booking confirmation attachment. There are a number of variants of the text but opening the confirmation installs trojan malware of various types.

ISPAI stresses online booking of hotels and holidays through reputable companies is safe and secure. The cybercriminals are relying on the probability that some of their scam emails will reach people who have booked hotels within the last day and who will reactively just click through to print their confirmation.

ISPAI recommends that you ensure your anti-virus software is always up-to-date and double check before opening an e-mail attachment or following a link in unsolicited email. For more information see hotline.ie announcements.

20^th Jan 2012: ISPAI very concerned at SOPA moves in U.S.

There is currently a lot of debate on legislative measures being proposed in various countries to stop people misusing the Internet to obtain copyrighted material without paying appropriate royalties. The latest to grab the headlines are the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act currently before congress.

ISPAI has never in any way condoned copyright theft. However, overly broad legislation requiring ISPs and electronic service providers to black out users' content based on allegations of copyright infringement, without any judicial process, is neither proportionate nor appropriate in democratic society.

Such measures will only serve to bring uncertainty to legitimate Internet businesses, stifle development of innovative services and very likely have little impact on the intended issue.

The full ISPAI statement is available here.

P.S. 23^th Jan 2012: SOPA postponed but ACTA is alive and well and soon to be signed.

ISPAI along with our European counterparts have long been concerned that SOPA type actions will be brought in through the back door by way of this trade agreement. Jump down to our earlier statements on ACTA by clicking here.

4^th July 2011: ISPAI welcomes Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council stance on OECD proposals.

The OECD published its proposal (link here) on Principles for Internet Policy-Making in Paris on Wednesday the 28th June which the Civil Society Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) refused to sign due to a number of concerns, particularly relating to the roles and responsibilities of Internet intermediaries.

CSISAC expressed the opinion that several of the proposals were not in line with their “core values including respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms and, the rule of law, promotion of access to knowledge, promotion of open standards, Net Neutrality and balanced intellectual property policies and regimes.” (link here)

CSISAC declared that intermediaries should not be required to assist rights holders in reducing illegal content as suggested by the Communiqué. Neither should they be required to determine the legality of the content on their networks as they are “neither competent nor appropriate parties to do so”. ISPs are "mere conduits" and “no text should undermine, or condition, existing limitations of liability for such entities upon the satisfaction of positive obligations to take particular actions”.

23^rd Jun. 2011: ISPAI concern at DETE Copyright Act amendment proposals.

In the last few days the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation announced a consultation on a proposed amendment to Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000

The Department is inviting comments on the content of its proposed legislative amendment (by way of a statutory instrument) of the 2000 Act. The amendment proposes to grant to rights holders a right to apply for a High Court injunction against a person who provides facilities for “enabling the making available to the public of copies of a work where those facilities are being used by one or more third parties to infringe the copyright in that work.” It also allows a rights holder to apply for an injunction against a person who provides facilities for "enabling the making available to the public of copies of a recording of a performance."

ISPAI welcomes that the Department has announced that the consultation period has now been extended to 29^th July at 5pm due to a large volume of requests for an extension.

ISPAI seriously questions the haste at which the Department proposes to introduce the amendment, the fact that there is effectively no Oireachtas input, and that it is considered without the guidance of the imminent European Court of Justice SABAM v. Scarlet judgement (in that case a Belgian court has referred a question to the ECJ on the same issue).

ISPAI will be submitting a comment on the consultation to clarify our position – we are fundamentally opposed to the introduction of an injunctions regime which would provide for wide-scale blocking and encompass mass-monitoring obligations on ISPs. Any legislative intervention must guarantee proportionality. ISPAI maintains that the correct resolution involves pursuing the actual facilitators of copyright infringement rather than the ISPs, who are mere conduits of data, providing Internet connection services.

The comment will also identify issues regarding the content of the proposal itself and the potential difficulties and dangers that they present.

17^th Feb. 2010: ISPAI welcomes European Parliament LIBE Committee amendments to the draft Directive on child exploitation as it applies to the Internet.

The draft EU Directive to combat the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, must produce legislation that is truly effective in tackling the Internet dimension of this problem. ISPAI welcomes the improved LIBE Committee amendments – but calls for further improvements to give legal certainty to all partners cooperating to fight this online abuse and so make this legislation a landmark in improving protection of children.

EuroISPA, of which ISPAI is a member, has issued this press release.

The Draft Directive may be found here.
The LIBE Committee amendments can be found here.

Update: 28^th Jan. 2011: The Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009, was signed into law by the President on the 26^th Jan. 2011, being renamed the "Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 (No 3 of 2011)". ISPs providing Internet services to the public are now obliged to retain certain data, as set out in the Act, identifying the occurrence of a communication (but not about the content of the communication itself). This must be done for every user, whether they are a private or business customer. In the case of Internet communications the ISP must keep the data for a period of one year.

Update: 20^th Jan. 2011: ISPAI regrets that the Communications (Retention of Data) Bill 2009, with its current text, was passed in the Seanad yesterday despite the trojan efforts of non-government Senators who argued the amendments (which were defeated) aimed at giving greater clarity to the legislation and particularly to minimise its potential to put Ireland at a cost disadvantage to our EU neighbours for Internet based business.

19^th Jan. 2011: ISPAI highlights Data Retention concerns as Bill comes to final stage in Seanad.

The Communications (Retention of Data) Bill, 2009 reaches its final stages in the Seanad on Thursday 20 ^th January. This is required to transpose the flawed European Directive of 2006 that was supposed to harmonise Data Retention across Member States. In fact it has done quite the opposite. It is being challenged in the courts in many countries and in fact Ireland challenged it at the European Court for technical reasons. Never mind that this Directive is totally disproportionate - a battle that continues at European level, the immediate concern is how it is being implemented in Ireland.

What really concerns ISPAI is that the Irish version of this Directive imposes greater requirements on Industry than our EU neighbours have implemented (or are in the process of implementing).

We believe strongly that this will act as a deterrent to new Internet businesses being established in Ireland or being attracted to locate here. Electronic business is highly mobile and cost sensitive. ISPAI is concerned that the cost of greater Data Retention here will pursuade these businesses to locate elsewhere. In this time of economic and employment crisis the Government needs to create an attractive environment rather than introduce new potential barriers.

What this law mandates is that every ISP must store data to record the "who, where and when" of every specified communication that every user makes on the Internet as they make it - whether or not the Garda suspect them of being involved in crime. Irrespective of the democratic rights aspects of this legislation, ISPs will be legally obliged to store this data and this requires additional systems, hardware and storage devices that we don't need to deliver our core business goal - a quality Internet service to our customers. However, the costs do not stop there. Your ISP will have to service the data disclosure requests that can be made by Garda, Revenue and Military State Security. Where this data is to be presented as part of a court case, your ISP will have to send a key employee to verify this data in court. This all takes time and costs money.

At present the Bill makes no provision for these authorities to pay for this service, the costs of all this will have to be passed on to the customer.

See our letter of today to Senators here.

We have been drawing attention to these serious issues since the outset in 2006. Some previous letters linked below.

To Minister for Enterprise.

To Minister for Justice.

To Minister for Communications.

At previous stage to senators.

8^th June 2010: JOINT INDUSTRY STATEMENT ON ACTA

EuroISPA (of which ISPAI is a member Association) together with Telecoms Associations has issued the following statment on the ACTA trade negotiations.

Industry is concerned that proposals within these trade negotiations appear to require operators to directly divulge customer details to rights holders and to place liability on network providers contrary to the e-commerce directive.

The statement is available here.

Earlier ISPAI statement on ACTA here.

18^th Feb. 2010: LEGAL AND REGULATORY THREATS TO ISP BUSINESS MODELS

Over 90 percent of national legislation comes from the European Union. Never before have ISPs and user-focused online services faced so much European legislation and pending trade agreements that threaten their viability and competiveness.

This seminar provided a briefing on measures which appear in Directives (some overdue for tranposition and some currently in draft stages) and new Trade Agreements that place costs and liabilities on providers. An outline was given of the EU legislative process and how ISPs' views may be better represented. Further information on the content and speakers who presented at the seminar may be found here.

19^th Jan. 2010: Industry recommedations to EU Spanish Presidency "Digital Europe Strategy"

MADRID: On January 18th EuroISPA together with its partner trade associations presented the European Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Industry recommendations for a "Digital Europe Strategy" to the Spanish Presidency of the European Union.

Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) will play a key role in Europe’s ability to move forward into the future. Deployed properly, ICTs can help to reduce carbon usage and promote sustainability, support better delivery of public services to all Europeans, create jobs and equip Europe’s workforce for the 21st century economy, and enhance Europe’s ability to compete in the global marketplace. The joint industry paper identifies seven key areas in which urgent action is needed in order for Europe to fully reap the benefits of ICT:

1. Productivity and Growth
2. Sustainability
3. Creative Content in the Digital World
4. Trust
5. Participation for all
6. Trade/Market access
7. Reduction in Administrative Burdens

The full recommedation document is available here.

The EuroISPA press release is available here.

20^th Aug. 2009: IRMA threat of injunction if Pirate Bay not blocked.

ISPAI fully supports member organisation UPC in its refusal to respond to the threat made by Irish divisions of EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony music companies to take them to court if UPC does not block Internet access for its customers to the Swedish website known as "The Pirate Bay".

ISPAI reiterates that it does not in any way condone the use of ISP's Internet services for the infringement of copyright. If rightsholders wish to take action against persons they allege are infringing their works, that action must be taken against the alleged infringer. It should not be taken against ISPs who are "mere conduits" providing a public communications services. The ISP companies are not infringing the music companies' works and therefore action taken against ISPAI members is completely spurious. Indeed, where legal action has been taken against Irish subscribers alleged to have been breaking copyright, ISPAI members have complied with court orders to identify the subscriber involved to the Irish courts.

In the case of The Pirate Bay, if IRMA or the music companies they represent, believe that The Pirate Bay is infringing their copyrights, they should take the action directly against that organisation. The Pirate Bay is Swedish and its website is hosted in Sweden. ISPAI would question why IRMA or those music companies it represents (or their Swedish counterparts) do not take the required action in Sweden? If the Swedish courts find in favour of the music companies and rule that The Pirate Bay is engaging in illegal activity, then the Swedish Courts could order the closure of the offending site in its jurisdiction or hand down whatever other remedy the Judges deem appropriate.

There is no legal requirement on Irish ISPs to block any websites on the allegations of a private body. It must be remembered that Sweden is a member of the European Union and any unilateral blocking in one member state of the communications of businesses, organisations or private individuals' based in another member state sets grave legal questions about the fundamental principles of the European Union.

ISPAI also wishes to reiterate its position that the music industry must adapt to the changing world and develop innovative music services that exploit the power of the Internet to provide more attractive services to their customers - just as is already seen in countless other businesses.