Irish ISP: No Strikes?

In what isn’t exactly the most resounding endorsement of the three-strikes system to emerge, Irish ISP EIRCOM has revealed that it hasn’t disconnected a single person for illegal file sharing despite having such a system in place for four years.

EIRCOM adopted the system voluntarily in 2010, sending warning letters to customers found to be engaging in copyright infringement online. EIRCOM reportedly provides Internet for an estimated 700,000 customers and following a third warning, users are cut off.

The Irish Independent reports that a spokesman told them: “We are continuing to implement the graduated response process. We haven’t as yet disconnected anyone”.

Of course, this could be interpreted in diametrically opposed ways- either Irish file sharers are so terrified at the prospect of receiving a warning letter that they have flocked to legitimate services or the system is simply ineffective- The Gen finds it suspicious that out of 700,000 customers not one has chanced it into the third strike given the scale of illegally accessing content across the world.

It’s also possible that they are all simply relying on using YouTube and other free streaming services. However, it’s well documented that piracy continues to affect the entertainment industries in general, meaning that presumably all Irish file sharers have also simultaneously stopped downloading the latest episode of True Detective or a dodgy and inadvertently shaky cam version of The Wolf of Wall Street.