From today any Eircom subscriber that attempts to access file sharing site The Pirate Bay or related IP addresses will find themselves blocked, Eircom has confirmed.

In a statement this morning Eircom said it was following a High Court order.

“In making the Order, requiring Eircom to block access to The Pirate Bay website, the High Court was satisfied that the website is dedicated to facilitating the illegal downloading of copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright owners.

“Eircom recognises the legitimate rights of the owners of copyrighted material and believes that individuals who share or download copyrighted material without the authorisation or the permission of the owner of that content are acting illegally.

“Eircom would like to reassure customers that as part of the block Eircom will not monitor customers’ activities at any stage, nor will it place any monitoring equipment or software on its network in order to facilitate this block,” the company said.

Meanwhile cable broadband operator UPC said it was going to stand by its guns on the issue and will not block The Pirate Bay.

Last week UPC confirmed that the big four record labels – EMI, Warner, Sony and Universal – have sought a High Court injunction to block The Pirate Bay on its network.

“UPC regrets this decision by the rightsholders. We have throughout all correspondence indicated that we are very supportive of the position that authors and performers are entitled to be remunerated for their artistic efforts. As has been communicated in the past, we take a strong stance on the infringement of copyright – indeed our very own business model depends on the protection of such material.

“Notwithstanding this however, as a legitimate business we are required to operate within the confines of the law. We believe that there is no basis in Irish law for this request,” UPC said last week.

By John Kennedy