U2 manager says ISP’s must disconnect file sharers - hand over revenue!
The sound of greed.
U2’s last tour grossed $355 million
Paul McGuinness, longtime manager of rock band U2, has called on Internet service providers to immediately introduce disconnection policies to end illegal music downloads and urged governments to make sure they do…
He spread the blame between record labels that “through lack of foresight and planning allowed a range of industries to arise that let people steal music”; Silicon Valley companies that create marvelous devices but “don’t think of themselves as makers of burglary kits”; and governments who “created a thieves’ charter” by agreeing that ISPs should not be responsible for what passes along their pipes…
To great applause from the audience of music managers, McGuinness insisted that disconnection enforcement would work. “I call on ISPs to do two things. First, protect the music, and second, to make a genuine effort to share the enormous revenues. They should share their ingenuity as well as the money. We must shame them. Their snouts have been at our trough for too long.”
Does McGuinness have a clue about how the Internet works? Where does he see this boatload of folks paying extra to their ISP because they’re downloading music?
Posted: Tue - January 29, 2008 at 10:07 AM