I have always found this a strange country. So close to the UK and Scotland, but so different. The government here is very corrupt, acts constantly against its own, and it lets business run the country – while they seem unable to deal with real problems.
The latest farce is the case of censorship of the Internet;
IRMA, which represents major music groups EMI, Sony-BMG, Warner and Universal, is to begin compiling lists of websites that it claims are damaging its business. It will then apply for a court order, requiring Eircom and other internet providers to block access to these sites…
Under the terms of an agreement between Eircom and Irma, Eircom will not oppose any court application, meaning that the orders will be automatically granted. A spokesman for Eircom confirmed that Eircom ‘‘will not oppose any application [Irma] may make seeking the blocking of access from their network’’ to blacklisted websites.
I was going to rant about this stupid state of affairs but on this Irish Internet censorship post at Aehso’s all has been said already:
Irish government, you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves for not defending the rights of your population against private industry censorship. If you wanted to show the entire world that the legislative and judiciary process in this country cannot keep pace with advancements in technology then congratulations, job done. I can only imagine that internet multinationals now have yet another reason to establish their European bases elsewhere instead of in this “knowledge economy” of ours.
This country is turning into a joke in the eyes of the international community, another nail…
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Gov’ts everywhere are doing this; Vietnam for example is beginning to tax bloggers, even if the server they use is not based in Vietnam. Governments are ust taxing and regulating what they don’t understand. It’s to be expected IMO. Internet brings walls down, but nations depend upon walls.