Bono net policing idea draws fire

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Bono, frontman of rock band U2, has warned the film industry not to make the same mistakes with file-sharing that have dogged the music industry.

Writing for the New York Times, Bono claimed internet service providers were "reverse Robin Hoods" benefiting from the music industry's lost profits.

He hinted that China's efforts prove that tracking net content is possible.

The editorial drew sharp criticism, both on its economic merits and for the suggestion of net content policing.

"The immutable laws of bandwidth tell us we're just a few years away from being able to download an entire season of '24' in 24 seconds," he wrote.

"A decade's worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators...the people this reverse Robin Hooding benefits are rich service providers, whose swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business."

In a move that drew significant criticism, Bono went on to suggest that the feasibility of tracking down file-sharers had already been proven.

"We know from America's noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China's ignoble effort to suppress online dissent, that it's perfectly possible to track content," he said.

Several commentators assailed both the logic of net monitoring and the economic arguments of the essay, pointing out that U2 topped 2009's list of top-grossing live acts.

"Bono has missed that even a totalitarian government...can't effectively control net-content," tweeted Cory Doctorow, a blogger and journalist noted for his study of file-sharing policy.

"If only greed and ignorance could sequester carbon, Bono could FINALLY save the planet," he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8439200.stm

[h3rm35]

I didn't expect much more from Bono... Riding around in private jets, setting up some of the worlds most energy hungry live performances, all the while singing at Obama's inauguration and kissing al gore's ass on the global warming front...

Makes me miss the days when I just hated metalica for killing napster...

All these acts get old and re-hash their old crap for the hundreth time, then blame file sharing for their lack of innovation...

Why doesn't al gore ask Bono to check in with James Cameron to see how Avatar is being slaughtered at the box office...

Oh yeah, because it's not... because James Cameron is innovative!

Asshole!

[Easy Skanking]

I used to like Bono. Somewhere around "Zooropa" is where he and U2 became another plastic band. Too bad considering their origins.

[h3rm35]

agreed... in much the same way I thought of metalica after the black album...

when u2 came out with as song called "lemon" that was a lemon, it was all pretty much downhill. Once they started pretty much sucking ass, their egos couldn't handle it, so they blamed the file sharing community...

Metalica... reloaded? what the hell did they expect? they released a shitty album, and they even admitted in the title of the next one that it was... they attempted to re-make a crappy release, and the re-release was even worse - but no! it had to be online people checking that they weren't about to buy one hit wonders that was the REAL problem...

I'll say it again: Assholes!

there's a reason someone created a now cliched phrase "fifteen minutes of fame." If you get more than that and make millions and millions of dollars, don't whine about it, just be happy with the chance you were given!

Assholes. Oh well, just in case Bono couldn't understand that - Arseholes.