Music industry warns it will track and prosecute PC users for illegal copying

THE Irish music industry is to blitz computer users with Big Brother-style software to monitor illegal downloads that could land them in court to face fines of over €125,000 or five years in jail.

The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) said yesterday it would begin tracking Irish PC users who use so-called “file sharing” sites within weeks and would prosecute them if they continued to use the sites to copy music without paying for it.

IRMA director general Dick Doyle said file sharing was a form of theft and was costing the Irish music industry around €20 million every year.