Irish Government to pass law to prevent citizens from accessing Facebook, twitter among other websites

Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, Sean Sherlock, is pushing through a new law to prevent access by those living in Ireland to websites that the judiciary and government decide contain illegal content, without a vote in the Oireachtas.

Your civil rights and free access to the Internet are under threat. Minister Sherlock  and the Government should be prevented from deciding what website you can or cannot visit.


In a prior article I wrote about SOPA,  the Stop Online Piracy Act, piece of US legislation, recently proposed in the US. It caused an Internet-wide outcry due to its far-reaching implications; way beyond simply closing access to outlaw file sharing websites, it would have (may still) enabled law enforcement to block access to entire internet domains due to infringing material posted on a single blog or webpage.

A similar proposal is about to become law in Ireland. And while over seven million US citizens contacted their representatives to say No to SOPA in the US, Irish citizens will not get that chance because the new law in Ireland is not being voted on in the Oireachtas. Instead, the law is being enacted by ministerial order.

That will this new law mean for people living in Ireland?

This new law will give music and movie companies the legal leverage to force Irish ISPs like UPC, Eircom and mobile operators to block access to web sites "suspected" of having copyrighted material on them. It also means judges can order ISPs to block access to sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter where an individual user from anywhere in the world has shared infringing material.

TAKE ACTION TODAY...

1. Contact the ministers office and express your disatisfaction
2. Write a letter to the minister
3. Write a letter to your local TD
4. sign the online petition at http://stopsopaireland.com

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Dear Minister Sherlock:

As a citizen of this country I request that you respectfully abandon your proposed enactment of “S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011.” 

This legislation subverts the democratic process, favouring the special interests of corporations over the rights of individual citizens, will destroy the largest growth sector in the Irish economy, and will subject the citizens of Ireland to unwarranted, un-wished for and unintended censorship.

Sincerely,

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Dear TD:

I have recently learned of the intent of Minister Sherlock to enact “S.I. No. of 2011 European Communities (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2011.” 

This legislation subverts the democratic process, favouring the special interests of corporations over the rights of individual citizens, will destroy the largest growth sector in the Irish economy, and will subject the citizens of Ireland to unwarranted, unwished for and unintended censorship. 

I respectfully request that you make formal representation to the Minister expressing in stron terms an  objection to this inappropriate legislation

Sincerely,

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