My good friend Charly, the guy who wrote that amazing stock email to his ISP and others (feel free to use it) hand delivered a letter to the IRMA today. Again, he is letting me publish it online for those who want to download it themselves, edit their name in, and post or deliver it themselves. The full text of the letter is below (Just click “Read More), and you may download a .ODT (Open Office file. Works in Word and Pages, as far as I know) copy of the letter here.

Irish Recorded Music Assocation
1 Corrig Avenue
Dún Laoghaire
Co. Dublin

01/03/09
Subject: Blocking websites to combat Internet piracy
To Whom it May Concern
I am concerned by recent news that you plan to force Eircom and other ISPs in Ireland to block access for their subscribers to certain websites.

In fact, if I understand correctly, the first website your association would like to see blocked is The Pirate Bay. It’s a website that hosts absolutely no unauthorized material, it merely provides links to user submitted content just like Google or any other search engine. The Pirate Bay has never been found to be illegal in an Irish court.

Please be aware that The Pirate Bay has links to many works of music, software and film that are not infringing on copyrights. All of the following links refer to material that is permitted to be shared online.
(For sake of ease, you don’t need to enter the text after the 7 digit number in your browser)

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4672026/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_Ghosts_I-IV_%5B2008%5D%5BCD_Cov_PDF_Extras%5D320Kbps

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4173258/Nine_Inch_Nails_-_The_Slip_-_Flac

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4476718/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4729001/STEAL_THIS_FILM___TRIAL_EDITION

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3926691/-_Aristotle_-_Complete_Works.pdf

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3521339/Flash_Gordon_-_Conquers_The_Universe_(1940)_FullDVD

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3974635/Modern_Times___(19_subtitles)

If you choose to block The Pirate Bay, you are blocking Irish people’s access to legitimate works. I do not think you should be permitted to do so.
I would also like to know what other websites you plan on blocking. You’ve already stated that mere links to copyrightable material are going to be banned. What about links to links? What about proxy websites that people will undoubtedly use to evade your bans? What about sites like riaaradar.com that encourage behaviour that cut your revenue? What about blogs that give instructions on how to circumvent your blocks? What about blogs that criticise your actions?

I would imagine that you have been in this industry for quite some time. By now, you should realise that attempts at censorship are doomed to fail (google “09 F9”). Banning a website online only makes is more popular by many orders of magnitude. Pirates will always be able to circumvent any ban, and it will be yet again the legitimate consumer that is inconvenienced  and have their free speech restricted the most. Your association and its members will suffer a damaged image as an oppressor of communications on the Internet.

There are other solutions available to you. It is important you pursue a strategy that has the potential to succeed. Whatever way you look at it, the Internet is the place where people want their music now. People buy iPods, not Walkmans. It is also important to realise that the technologies that pirates have developed are light-years ahead of anything in the legitimate market right now. Bittorrent is fantastic way to distribute music online. Unfortunately, up to now it has been used, by some, illegitimately.

There are ways to harness new technologies’ power in a way that allows musicians to be paid. The EFF have proposed a solution that I feel is a very viable solution. It benefits both musicians and music fans whilst harnessing the technologies developed by pirates. Please find it attached to this letter.

It is vital you choose a viable solution to this problem. Censorship will not pay artists. You need to implement a correct solution, not a misguided knee-jerk reaction that will solve nothing.

For the love of music, please make the right choice.
Yours faithfully,
*Sign here*

Tags: blackout, eircom, Facebook, twitter