Go into any cafe in 2025 and you’ll probably expect a WiFi connection. But today one cafe owner in Cork city received a warning letter from broadband provider Eir – after a customer allegedly used the cafe’s free WiFi to illegally download music in December.
Owner Paul Walsh has been running the 3 Little Piggies cafe on Union Quay for eight years. He’s been with Eir that entire time – and said that this is the first occasion he’s ever seen this kind of warning. Eir explained that the album – If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power by American singer Halsey – was apparently torrented at exactly 4:45pm on December 12, 2024.
In the letter Eir warned that if three such breaches are identified by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), Paul’s internet will be cut off and that Eir could be compelled to provide his details to IRMA under a court order.
Owner Paul told CorkBeo: “I’ve never seen a notification like this. It’s kind of worrying that they’re saying the onus is on you.
“What alarms me about this is that it’s the first time we’ve seen this and they’re saying I’m the one liable. If you want to get more serious, what if someone downloads something they shouldn’t be downloading? That’s opening up a can of worms.”
Complementary WiFi is commonplace in the hospitality sector – from cafes to hotels with hundreds of rooms. With thousands of customers using the internet in restaurants and hotels every single day, Paul said he was surprised to see such a warning for the first time on his own doorstep.
The letter received by Paul
(Image: Paul Walsh)
Paul suggested that a warning like this could set a precedent: “If Eir are cracking down, other businesses are going to get letters like this. Because it happens everywhere.”
He added that copyright rules are “obviously in the small print” when signing up for broadband – but that WiFi availability is “just part and parcel of cafe and hotel culture now.
“People are in here using the WiFi all the time. People with laptops in here, phones. A lot of our regulars would be signed into our network so they automatically reconnect. We get a lot of students and a lot of business people in here.”
The letter, dated December 16, only landed on Paul’s doorstep this morning.
As for the album itself, Paul said he’s never heard it: “And I certainly won’t be downloading it.”