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APPLE AND MICROSOFT – PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY?

30 January 2008

APPLE AND MICROSOFT – PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY?

U2 Manager Accuses Corporations Of Profiting From Piracy

Paul McGuinness the manager for U2 has spoken out against Internet executives claiming that they are responsible for the collapse of the music industry.

Mr McGuinness singled out Apple's Steve Jobs and Microsoft's Bill Gates as the technology gurus profiteering from rampant online piracy. In a statement he accused the companies of doing little or nothing to stop the abuses, saying, "I suggest we shift the focus of moral pressure away from the individual P2P [peer to peer] thief and on to the multibillion dollar industries that benefit from these tiny crimes"

The Statements were made at the Midem Music Conference in Cannes amid wider discussion of how to implement new revenue models to combat piracy and tackle falling sales within the industry.

While online piracy is a very real problem for some struggling artists ,we are still a fairly long way from Bono and the boys hitting the breadline. Particularly given that U2 were paid an undisclosed sum by Apple, (one of the companies specifically criticized) several years ago to feature in the first of the famous iPod silhouette TV ads.

If you are concerned for the financial security of Bono, The Edge and the other two and wish to make a donation cheques should be sent to Paul McGuinness at Principle Management - 30 Sir John Roberson's Quay, Dublin. Please be sure to mark all correspondence "Make U2s Impending Poverty History".

MCB

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