At the end of this month a hearing will take place to help decide the fate of The Pirate Bay in Ireland. The major labels want the site blocked by a handful of ISPs that are at the moment digging in their heels and refusing to comply. The issue is particularly important, and not only for The Pirate Bay and its users. The labels have indicated to the court that they actually want more than one site blocked - in fact they have a list of 260 others.

Copyright activists often warn that a ruling in one case has the potential to be leveraged elsewhere and the wedge can become thicker frighteningly quickly if issues aren’t dealt with early on. It seems that a case currently underway in Ireland involving The Pirate Bay is proving that assessment correct.

At the moment customers of the Irish ISP Eircom cannot access The Pirate Bay since an uncontested 2009 High Court ruling orders the ISP to block the site. But that’s just one ISP, some people will say, and it’s easy to switch to another. Nice try.

The major recording labels, all members of the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), now want that blockade to be extended to other service providers. The progressive wedge the activists warned about is getting thicker already.

To that end IRMA approached other ISPs including UPC, Imagine, Vodafone, Digiweb and Hutchison 3G to agree to a Pirate Bay blockade. As detailed in our earlier report, they all refused and IRMA turned to the courts.

Last month the ISPs confirmed that proceedings had been served on their legal representatives by the big four record labels – EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner Music – and December 17 2012 the case went before the High Court.

The case was adjourned until January 29 but in meantime the parties are required to meet before January 12 and further correspond by January 14 to hammer out some details. It is quite possible that the court will ultimately decide that the Pirate Bay blockade should be extended to these other providers.

“So what, there are other sites to use,” some people will say. Nice try.

What has transpired is that while the case appears focused on removing access to The Pirate Bay, even bigger things are being planned.

The plaintiffs (technically EMI, Ireland) have told the court that they are looking to achieve more than just a blockade of the world’s biggest torrent site. In fact, they have a list of 260 other “objectionable” websites they have identified that they would also like blocked if this attack on The Pirate Bay is a success.

What started out with Eircom agreeing to have The Pirate Bay blocked could now potentially lead to a few other Irish ISPs having to follow suit. In a worst case scenario that could play out to all ISPs having to block 260 other sites on the music industry’s hit-list. Which sites? Only they know.

So, next time you hear the argument that someone “just” wants to block The Pirate Bay, it will be easier to understand why even people who don’t support the site are against it. One thing definitely leads to another in this game, and who knows where we’ll end up.