U2 manager urges ISPs to help fight web piracy

Paul McGThe music industry should shift the focus of its battle with internet piracy towards the technological industries which have “built multibillion dollar industries on the back of our content without paying for it”, according to Paul McGuinness, manager of rock group U2.

Mr McGuinness, a highly-respected figure in the industry, told delegates to Midem, the music industry’s international trade show being staged in France, that they had concerned themselves for too long with the small fries who organised illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing on the internet.

Mr McGuinness, who has managed U2 for 30 years, said: “I suggest we shift the focus of moral pressure away from the individual P2P file thief and on to the multibillion dollar industries that benefit from these countless tiny crimes. The ISPs [internet service providers] the telcos [telecoms companies], the device-makers.”

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BONO CONFESSES ECO SINS TO ‘FATHER’ AL GORE

U2 frontman BONO has compared environmental campaigner AL GORE to an Irish priest to whom he can confess his ecological sins. The With Or Without You hitmaker shared the stage with the former U.S. vice president at a conference in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday (24Jan08) – Bono was there to promote his campaign to alleviate world poverty, while Gore was continuing his plea for the reduction of global carbon emissions. And the singer insists he can’t help feeling guilty about his lavish lifestyle when around Gore.

He says, “It’s like being with an Irish priest. You start to confess your sins. Father Al, I am not just a noise polluter, I am a noise-polluting, diesel-soaking, gulfstream-flying rock star. “I’m going to kick the habit. I’m trying father Al, but oil has been very good for me – those convoys of articulated lorries, petrochemical products, hair gel.”

Gore was one of the key figures behind 2007′s Live Earth concerts to raise awareness about climate change. He won an Oscar for his 2006 environment-focused documentary An Inconvenient Truth and he was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (07) for his dedication to green issues.

- ContactMusic

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Microsoft and Dell go RED for Bono’s AIDS charity

 

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Microsoft and Dell on Thursday joined U2 band front man Bono‘s “RED” charity effort with a line of red personal computers.

Gates - Bono - Dell

Dell and Microsoft promise they will contribute a combined 50 to 80 dollars to The Global Fund to battle AIDS in Africa every time a “RED” computer is sold.

Eighty dollars can pay for someone with AIDS in Africa to have more than six months of life-sustaining antiretroviral medicine, according to RED.

“The computer has revolutionized our lives,” Bono said in a written release.

“It’s a truly beautiful idea that the purchase of a stylish PC can put someone on lifesaving ARV treatment for six months.”

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U2′s Bono visits Gates at Pentagon

Associated Press

PENTAGON (AP) – He’s been all around official Washington, and yesterday Bono (BAH’-noh) added the Pentagon.

The U2 lead singer dropped in on Defense Secretary Robert Gates, spending about 20 minutes inside the military chief’s office.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell (moh-REHL’) says the two discussed all things Africa, from the military’s new Africa Command to the president’s AIDS initiative. Press Secretary Geoff Morrell (moh’-REHL) says the talk centered around how to get more civilians involved in solving the continent’s problems.

Morrell says he doesn’t know why the hush-hush meeting was set and doesn’t expect there to be others, but says Gates was “happy to meet” with Bono.

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U2 3D: U2 members see their own performance

After a career playing to sold-out stadiums, U2 did what their fans have done for years _ stood in line to see U2 perform.

That concert was “U2 3D,” a film of the band’s 2005-06 Vertigo tour, shot at several shows in South America with new 3-D technology.

“I was really hoping we weren’t crap after all these years. Luckily we weren’t,” guitarist The Edge told The Associated Press before the band donned plastic glasses to watch the movie’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday night.

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