London
(ANI):
U2
frontman
Bono
has
slammed
internet
service
providers
for
their
failure
to
clamp
illegal
file
sharing
over
their
networks,
and
warns
the
film
industry
not
to
be
dogged
like
music
industry.
Writing
for
the
New
York
Times,
Bono
claimed
Internet
service
providers
were
"reverse
Robin
Hoods" benefiting
from
the
music
industry's
lost
profits.
He
hinted
that
China's
efforts
prove
that
tracking
net
content
is
possible.
"The
immutable
laws
of
bandwidth
tell
us
we're
just
a
few
years
away
from
being
able
to
download
an
entire
season
of
'24'
in
24
seconds," BBC
News
quoted
Bono
as
saying.
"A
decade's
worth
of
music
file-sharing
and
swiping
has
made
clear
that
the
people
it
hurts
are
the
creators...the
people
this
reverse
Robin
Hooding
benefits
are
rich
service
providers,
whose
swollen
profits
perfectly
mirror
the
lost
receipts
of
the
music
business," he
added.
Bono
further
suggested
that
the
feasibility
of
tracking
down
file-sharers
had
already
been
proven.
"We
know
from
America's
noble
effort
to
stop
child
pornography,
not
to
mention
China's
ignoble
effort
to
suppress
online
dissent,
that
it's
perfectly
possible
to
track
content," he
said.
However,
Bono"s
editorial
has
attracted
significant
criticism,
both
on
its
economic
merits
and
for
the
suggestion
of
net
content
policing,
with
the
critics
pointing
out
that
U2
topped
2009's
list
of
top-grossing
live
acts.
"Bono
has
missed
that
even
a
totalitarian
government...can't
effectively
control
net-content," said
Cory
Doctorow,
a
blogger
and
journalist
noted
for
his
study
of
file-sharing
policy.
"If
only
greed
and
ignorance
could
sequester
carbon,
Bono
could
finally
save
the
planet,"
he
added.