U2 versus YouTube ...?

Courtesy of his good friend Simon Haslam (Abel & Imray), the IPKat reports on the BBC's account that rock band U2 manager's Paul McGuinness has urged internet service providers to help end illegal music downloads, pleading for the disconnection of those who acquire tracks illegally. Speaking at the Midem conference in Cannes, he emphasized that it was time for artists to stand up against what he called the "shoddy, careless and downright dishonest way they have been treated in the digital age". To blame are record labels and governments who "created a thieves' charter" by agreeing that ISPs should not be responsible for what passed along their networks, adding:

"If you were a magazine advertising stolen cars, handling the money for stolen cars and seeing to the delivery of stolen cars, the police would soon be at your door. That's no different to an ISP, but they say they can't do anything about it. If you steal a laptop from a store or don't pay for your broadband service, you'll soon be cut off and nicked".

The Internet Service Providers Association has always maintained that it cannot be held responsible for illegal peer-to-peer traffic because it is "merely a conduit" of such material.

Says Simon,

"If I recall correctly, U2 used to provide tapes (remember those?) with U2 music on one side but blank on the other so that you could tape someone else's music on to the blank side".

U2 position on taping here