[ILUG] A win for us

[Gerard Cunningham]

On Wed, 2010-10-13 at 15:12 +0100, Gareth 'bigbro' Eason wrote:
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> On 12/10/10 17:38, Michele Neylon :: Blacknight wrote:
> > The media are very good at NOT reading the decision properly but grabbing one or two keywords and making big headlines.
> > 
> > Did UPC actually win?
> > 
> > I think not.
> > 
> > http://www.michele.me/blog/archives/2010/10/11/is-the-upc-decision-a-victory/
> [snip]
> 
> 	Unsurprisingly, I see today's Metro has an article stating that U2's
> manager is calling out to the Irish government to enact legislation
> immediately to provide retribution for such a case.
> 
> 	Everything I've read in the print media regarding the case thus far has
> been incredibly biased - it's almost as if they have some agenda or
> vested interest. Articles that I've read thus far (for example [1]) on
> the topic consistently appear to imply or outright state that the
> judicial decision (which merely upholds due process) is in fact an
> endorsement by Ireland of piracy - which is rife (provably wrong proof
> given) and destroying families (no proof given) and compounding
> Ireland's image overseas as a haven for piracy (no proof given and
> starting from an invalid premise in any case.)

A journalist's perspective:
Big Music has a clear vested interest in this case. PR flaks, U2
managers and others will have been made available as soon at the
judgement was ready to give their opinion - or spin.

Paper needs ink,, and it usually needs it in a hurry as the deadline
looms. I doubt there were many spokespersons from say, the EFF or other
organisations, who were willing to give a contrary viewpoint.


So are you really surprised that the newspapers reported one view?

Offer to write a contrary column for one of the weekends, say for the
Saturday Irish Times. They'll probably carry it, just for the
controversy it will stir in the letters columns.


> 
> 	I fully expect a knee-jerk reaction to be at least mooted by our
> government who may see it as low hanging fruit, and unless any
> legislation is thought out and properly debated before being passed into
> law I anticipate it will have far reaching impacts on perfectly
> legitimate uses of the internet and freedom of speech through internet
> services. I certainly do not want to see this happen, and I don't think
> you should either.
> 
> 	Best regards,
> 	-->Gar
> 
> 
> [1]
> http://www.independent.ie/national-news/courts/music-giants-fail-in-bid-to-block-illegal-downloading-2374660.html
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-- 
Gerard Cunningham