“Acta, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a proposed international agreement which aims to create cross-national standards on what constitutions copyright infringement …” (more)
[Alex Hern, New Statesman, 10 July]
“Junior Innovation Minister Seán Sherlock has this evening agreed to attend a panel discussion including the organiser of a petition attacking his online copyright laws, after earlier saying he would not share a stage with him …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 2 April]
“Philip Soos considers the faults that plague existing copyright laws and suggests that, in an increasingly online world, we need to find more realistic options …” (more)
[Politico, 8 March]
“The Government has signed the so-called ‘SOPA’ statutory instrument into law. This is despite the lack of any substantive debate on it in the Dáil, despite the 80,000 people that signed a petition against it, despite the opposition to it from leading industry representatives …” (more)
[Stephen Donnelly TD, 7 March]
“The introduction yesterday of an amendment to the Copyright & Related Rights Acts has been in the works for a long time (posts here, here and here). The issue has generated quite a bit of heat on both sides and the Government would do well to observe that opponents to the law have not held a monopoly on intemperate comment …” (more)
[A Clatter of the Law, 1 March]
“The junior minister responsible for the introduction of a new law dubbed the ‘Irish SOPA’ has said a public consultation launched yesterday could lead to new laws which would supersede the current law – but only if ‘everybody calls off the dogs’ …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 1 March]
“A ministerial order allowing record labels and other copyright holders to seek legal injunctions against internet service providers that allow access to websites containing copyrighted material was signed into law yesterday …” (more)
[Genevieve Carbery, Irish Times, 1 March]
“… SOPA Ireland got passed into law tonight despite the protests of 80,000 people. I ask you, what do we have to do to move the needle for the venal deadbeats that have brought this country to its knees? These people want to hand it over piecemeal to every transnational corporation who comes looks looking for a piece of the action …” (more)
[Joe Drumgoole, Copacetic, 29 February]
“In the press release announcing the publication of the Copyright Review Committee Consultation Paper mentioned in my previous post (and which I hope will be discussed on twitter at the hashtag #CRC12), the Minister also announced the signing into law of the European Union (Copyright and Related Rights) Regulations 2012 relating to the availability of injunctions by rights-holders …” (more)
[Eoin O’Dell, Cearta, 29 February]
“The battle over implementation of the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement in Europe is heating up, while the war of words over the Stop Online Privacy Act is still in play. Rightsholders have called critics of these measures ‘demagogues’ and ‘dirty tricksters’, but the critics show no sign of retreating from their opposition …” (more)
[Matthew Lasar, Ars Technica, 29 February]
“Today, the government signed into law a controversial amendment to copyright law. ‘Irish Sopa’, as it’s dubbed, has drawn the ire of digital companies and freedom of expression campaigners for a variety of reasons. Here are six of them …” (more)
[Adrian Weckler, Business Post, 29 February]
“Junior Minister Sean Sherlock has this afternoon confirmed that the controversial statutory instrument that reinforces online copyright laws in Ireland has been signed into law …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 29 February]
“Cary Sherman, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), must have a mild masochistic streak. On February 8, he penned a badly-received New York Times op-ed in which he invited Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) opponents to ‘respectful, fact-based conversations’ — after accusing them of ‘demagoguery’, ‘misinformation’, ‘dirty tricks’, ‘hyperbolic mistruths’, ‘hypocrisy’, and ‘supporting foreign criminals selling counterfeit pharmaceuticals to Americans’ …” (more)
[Nate Anderson, Ars Technica, 27 February]
“The main reason – effectively the only reason – given by Minister Sean Sherlock for pushing ahead with a deeply flawed statutory instrument is that he is acting on the advice of the Attorney General. However, he has not revealed any detail of that advice and we are being asked to take it on trust both that it is correct (a matter which is open to debate) and also that it compels this particular course of action …” (more)
[TJ McIntyre, IT Law in Ireland, 12 February]
“I cannot think of an issue that has highlighted the deep disconnect between politicians and Ireland’s younger population more acutely than the proposed statutory instrument to modify Ireland’s copyright legislation …” (more)
[Karlin Lillington, Irish Times, 10 February]
“Remember all that talk of how the supporters of SOPA/PIPA were ‘humbled’ by the protests of January 18th, and how they had learned their lessons about trying to push through a bill without actually involving the stakeholders? Remember the talk of how they hoped a new tone could be found in the debate? Yeah …” (more)
[Mike Masnick, Techdirt, 8 February]
“Last minute hopes for a controversial statutory instrument dubbed Ireland’s SOPA going back out to the public for consultation have been dashed. The instrument is due to be signed shortly …” (more)
[John Kennedy, Silicon Republic, 8 February]
“‘We need to address the threat to humanity posed by the tsunami of unverifiable data, opinion, libel and vulgar abuse in new media. I know all the stuff about it being a tool of freedom and democracy, and I also know it has the capacity to destroy civil society and cause unimaginable suffering …'” (more)
[TJ McIntyre, IT Law in Ireland, 6 February]
“Tomorrow, the controversial statutory instrument concerning a change to the Copyright Act 2000 to correct a loophole in the legislation – dubbed ‘Ireland’s SOPA’ – goes before Cabinet. The ultimate decision can go one of either two ways …” (more)
[John Kennedy, Silicon Republic, 6 February]
“The government’s hope of addressing internet piracy using a controversial statutory instrument look increasingly doomed. ‘Irish SOPA’ can’t work, for a variety of legal and practical reasons …” (more)
[Adrian Weckler, Business Post, 6 February]
