In 2009 several major music labels and Eircom agreed to start a so-called three-strikes regime, disconnecting repeat copyright infringers from the Internet.

Fearing that innocent subscribers were affected by the plan, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner got involved, claiming the privacy of Internet subscribers was at stake.

The immediate outcome was bad for the labels as the commissioner ordered “3 strikes” to be brought to a halt on privacy grounds.

However, a few months later the four major record labels challenged this decision with success.

For a final decision the case went to the Supreme Court which decided to dismiss the appeal this week.

The court held that the commissioner could not specify why any provisions of the Data Protection Acts were contravened by the three-strikes scheme.