Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

I reiterate the point that no national authority or court can require an Internet service-provider to carry out general monitoring of the information it transmits on its network. That gives rights to the Internet service-provider and to the individual IP address or the individual user. This means the ISP cannot be asked to monitor all the data of each of its customers in order to prevent any future infringement of intellectual property rights. This is clearly stated in EU law.

We are attempting to balance the right of the copyright holder and to transpose that which is already in EU law and then to recognise the rights of the individual user, the individual business and not to limit the freedoms of the Internet. Nobody wants to limit the freedoms of the Internet because this is counter-intuitive. We live in a democracy and we thrive on the businesses we have created in this country, through State intervention and subsidies which support those types of businesses.

The business model pertaining to the music industry is increasingly and arguably - I will not use the word outmoded - an evolving process. So long as it is a case of never the twain shall meet, then no matter how one legislates primarily in this field, as soon as one legislates, the Internet, of its very nature, will evolve in a way to circumnavigate the legislation. In my view, the stakeholders must sit down together in an organic fashion because if they do not reach an agreement then no matter what Government is in power, it will never be able to legislate for this issue. Given the level of activity on the Internet, which is to be welcomed, and the level of innovation, no one member state, no one geographical boundary, can set laws to try to control it. This is a commonly-held view to a certain extent. I think a liberal view is taken, in the main, regarding the power of the Internet and its inherent good. However, as an EU member state, Ireland must have regard to copyright law. Anyone who generates intellectual property has a right but that right is not superior to the right of the Internet service-provider nor superior to the right of the individual user. When governments legislate, they must be very careful.

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