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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  • icon
    TtfnJohn (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 8:48am

    They take him seriously because...

    1. He's rich
    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:03am

    Maybe he feels artists are being cheated out of revenues by the Irish government - the same government (and only one as far as I know) which allows his artists to cheat the tax system. Until artists come out in favor of paying tax I think they should keep their traps shut about downloading. Beside, a downloaded album costs about the same as a physical copy (which must be at least 60% production, distribution and sales cost) so what about those exorbitant profits made?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ron Rezendes (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:33am

      Really?

      You were serious when you wrote this?

      "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!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Simon, 14 Oct 2010 @ 10:14am

        Re: Really?

        He meant it costs the same for the end user to buy...

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2010 @ 10:22am

        Re: Really?

        I think you misunderstood him there. He is saying that when you purchase an album on line it costs the same as the physical item but the physical item has a lot more costs associated with it.

        I may be wrong, been there before, but I don't think so.
        Modified quote from the TV show MONK.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Jay (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:12am

    Place your bets!

    I have 3 internets and 5 pipes and tubes saying Ireland is going to be in the next 301 report.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Hephaestus (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:28am

      Re: Place your bets!

      "in the next 301 report"

      And any country that has internet access as a right ...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Hephaestus (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:24am

    " ... members of the EU Parliament ... eventually reached a compromise that allows three strikes under some very specific conditions ... "

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:34am

    Coming soon: Saint McGuinness, the man who drove piracy out of Ireland

    The act of lobbying lawmakers to create law enforcement overhead seems difficult to swallow.

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Matt (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:38am

    Ruin Ireland reputation?

    When I think of Ireland I automaticly think good copyright protection...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Idiot Buster, 14 Oct 2010 @ 10:57am

    Idiot Alert...

    Paul McGuinness has proven himself a complete money trolling fascist in favor of draconian laws that protect HIM. He really has no concern for anything else or ANYONE else.

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Rikuo (profile), 14 Oct 2010 @ 11:11am

    implement the required EU legislation without further delay

    But that was how the three strikes scuppered. The courts found that there was NO REQUIRED EU legislation that said Ireland must have three strikes. I wonder if Paul McGuinness can be sued by someone for perjury, since what he said is clearly not the truth.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2010 @ 11:27am

      Re: implement the required EU legislation without further delay

      Rikuo raises a good point. One can be sued for libel or defamation for blatantly lying about someone to the public. It should be a criminal offence (albeit one with a high burden of proof) to make such easily debunked and so obviously false statements for the purpose of intentionally misleading the public.
      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.)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    canach, 14 Oct 2010 @ 7:22pm

    Paul Mc Guinness

    Please tell all U2 members to take their complaints to Holland.
    that is where they claim tax residency

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Oct 2010 @ 9:22pm

    "Justice Peter Charleton did rule that Irish Law doesn’t require ISPs to identify and disconnect illegal file-sharers, but cautioned that the lack of such provisions in Irish Law technically means the country is not in compliance with European law, and that considering its place within the European Union the govt must therefore address the issue."

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Bas Grasmayer (profile), 15 Oct 2010 @ 1:33am

    Sadly, this guy gets into the newspapers a lot and journalists hardly ever question his claim. He's driving public opinion in this way and we're the one percent that has to prove to the rest that this guy is wrong.

    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.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Matthew Stinar (profile), 17 Oct 2010 @ 7:06pm

    Translation

    MafIAA captain disappointed in thugs for not enforcing protection racket.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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