Paul McGuinness Thinks Recognizing Due Process Is Bad For Ireland's Reputation?
from the really-now? dept
Ah, Paul McGuiness. U2's manager, who seems to be very, very confused in always blaming everyone else for not making him even wealthier, has apparently responded to the news we recently wrote about, concerning an Irish court recognizing that ISPs have no legal obligation to kick file sharers off the internet on a three strikes regime. Now, this should be common sense based on the fact that there is no "three strikes" law in Ireland. The record labels were trying to force ISPs to implement three strikes by just claiming it was legally required, but without any actual basis in the law. Even if you support three strikes laws, you have to admit that the law needs to actually have that provision before ISPs are required to obey the demands of the record labels to kick people offline. You would think it's hard to argue against that.But, this is Paul McGuinness we're talking about.
Zeropaid points us to McGuiness's response to the legal ruling, where he basically goes off the deep end, in suggesting that this rather straightforward reading of the law somehow harms Ireland's reputation:
"This is extremely bad for the international reputation of Ireland as a jurisdiction with appropriate legal protection for all kinds of Intellectual Property and copyright generally."How so? Seriously. I'm wondering how anyone in their right mind could possibly believe that a court saying "gee the law doesn't say that, so it's not required" harms Ireland's reputation. He then insists that Ireland needs to pass a three strikes law to "fix" this awful ruling:
"The government must now as a matter of urgency, do its job properly and implement the required EU legislation without further delay."Um, except this is flat-out wrong. There is no "required EU legislation" that mandates three strikes. In fact, after serious debates in which members of the EU Parliament initially rejected three strikes rules, they eventually reached a compromise that allows three strikes under some very specific conditions, which are clearly not met by the attempts to automatically enforce three strikes in Ireland. I mean, at this point, McGuiness is flat-out making stuff up. It makes you wonder why anyone takes him seriously.
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Filed Under: due process, ireland, paul mcguinness, three strikes
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They take him seriously because...
2. He hasn't met a reporter, microphone, camera, news show etc that he doesn't just love to blather his nonsense into.
3. He's colourful. (see point 2)
4. He gets people to write letters to the editors and a ton of blog responses.
5. He's an ignorant idiot when it comes to the legislative and legal processes.
6. Return to points 1 and 2.
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Really?
"Beside, a downloaded album costs about the same as a physical copy (which must be at least 60% production, distribution and sales cost)"
That is unbelievable!! I'm sure that the downloaded version can be made a billion times over with no additional cost. Try that with your physical copy!
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Re: Really?
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Re: Really?
I may be wrong, been there before, but I don't think so.
Modified quote from the TV show MONK.
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Place your bets!
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Re: Place your bets!
And any country that has internet access as a right ...
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Free is going to be challenging that "compromise" in the EU courts. Once it is shot down thats it for HADOPI and any similar laws in the EU.
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Coming soon: Saint McGuinness, the man who drove piracy out of Ireland
Revenue should be a function of sales, marketing, and distribution and not the ability to shift built-in cost of doing business to taxpayers.
Using an emotional argument such as "If you don't do what I say to do, you'll damage Ireland's reputation" is laughable. I mean, this the country that annually celebrates a man, Saint Patrick, with green beer. Remember, Patrick was credited for banishing snakes even though all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes. And he remains worried about the country's reputation.
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Ruin Ireland reputation?
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Idiot Alert...
It's plain to see he's devolved into a greedy, self-center and self-serving, bitter man who likes to talk to hear the sound of his own voice.
It's a shame, I used to love U2. Now, I won't listen to them at all. I change the channel is they come on.
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implement the required EU legislation without further delay
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Re: implement the required EU legislation without further delay
Jail terms for all RIAA/MPAA members! (Just kidding about that last part, but there really should be some consequence for intentionally misrepresenting the law to the public.)
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Paul Mc Guinness
that is where they claim tax residency
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The Judge said that Ireland apparently doesn't have laws to disconnect infringer of any kind at least that's what I understood and the manager twat go on to push for 3 strikes.
Can anybody confirm that Ireland have no provisions in law to punish people breaking the law? that would be great the no punishment part :)
Now is the Judge in on this too, I mean he was the one who actually said that Ireland is "technically" not in compliance with E.U. directives/laws.
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As for the EU legislation thing... I'm starting to see such claims more often. Stuff like 'EU standards', etc. but what those who use it actually mean is the French standards. The more countries introduce crazy three strike measures, the easier it will be for the industry to pull other countries into it too.
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Translation
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