Tech policy & human rights
Big tech accountability? Read how we got here in The Closing of the Net
The sunglass-wearing Irish pop singer Bono has a clash of financial interests between his Internet investments and his copyright pro-3-strikes stance, as exposed by the sale this week of the computer-maker Palm. Should we call him a hypocrite?
U2's Bono is one five directors of Elevation Partners a venture capital company behind Palm, the US maker of hand-held computers. According to US media sources, he has already made $US82.3 million from this investment. The sale of Palm to Hewlett-Packard for $US1.2 billion, agreed yesterday, stands to return his invested capital and net him even more profit. Bono is also sponsored by Blackberry, the maker of a rival product to Palm.
U2's manager, Paul McGuiness, is one of the most vitriolic opponents of the open Internet. McGuiness is a key person behind the music industry's push for 3-strikes measures to punish Internet users - for using the very equipment which is delivering this second fortune to Bono. McGuiness has spoken openly and aggressively about his desire for ISPs to be made liable for copyright infringements.
How do
the two square up?
To me, it would seem that they don't and it is totally reprehensible of Bono to support the locking up of the Internet, and at the same time to be making massive personal gains on the back of Internet innovation. Hypocrite would also seem like an appropriate adjective.
And it certainly leaves a nasty taste in the Blackberry brand.
Sources:
Financial Times Hewlett-Packard to buy Palm for $1.2 billion
24/7 Wall Street on Bono's investment in Elevation Partners
GPS Obsessed blog reports Bono's gain from Palm investment
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK:England and Wales License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/ It may be used for non-commercial purposes only, and the author's name should be attributed. The correct attribution for this article is: Monica Horten (2010) Palm sale exposes 'Net dealings of U2's Bono http://www.iptegrity.com 29 April 2010
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My Linked In profileIptegrity in brief
Iptegrity.com is the website of Dr Monica Horten. I’ve been analysing analysing digital policy since 2008. Way back then, I identified how issues around rights can influence Internet policy, and that has been a thread throughout all of my research. I hold a PhD in EU Communications Policy from the University of Westminster (2010), and a Post-graduate diploma in marketing. I’ve served as an independent expert on the Council of Europe Committee on Internet Freedoms, and was involved in a capacity building project in Moldova, Georgia, and Ukraine. I am currently (from June 2022) Policy Manager - Freedom of Expression, with the Open Rights Group. For more, see About Iptegrity
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States v the 'Net?
Read The Closing of the Net, by me, Monica Horten.
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In 2012, I presented my PhD research in the European Parliament.
The politics of copyright
A Copyright Masquerade - How corporate lobbying threatens online freedoms
'timely and provocative' Entertainment Law Review
