Pirate Party MEP Christian Engström on Today FM

In light of the recent Eircom announcements to block the Pirate Bay from September 1st, Matt Cooper invited Dick Doyle, Director General of IRMA (Irish Recorded Music Association) and Swedish Piratpartiet MEP Christian Engström to debate the issues on TodayFM's The Last Word.

Highlights of the debate included Christian Engström's point that monitoring people's internet usage is equivalent to monitoring their phone calls or reading their post - i.e. that enforcement of copyright is not the responsibility of the provider of infrastructure.

Matt Cooper brought up the point that artists such as Sandi Thom have made money and become successful on the back of internet file-sharing and promotion rather than despite it, and Dick Doyle referenced the legal issue of section 40/subsection 4 of the Irish Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000.

All food for thought, and an interesting debate overall. Matt Cooper's blog post on the issue is here.

This is also being discussed on our forum here