Elton John Flip Flops: Kicking People Off The Internet Is Good! No, Bad! No, Good!

from the does-he-even-know-what-he's-saying? dept

Sometimes you have to wonder if certain celebrities even know what they're talking about half the time. A few years back, Elton John went on an anti-internet tirade, where he suggested shutting down the entire internet for five years for the sake of saving music. So, it was a bit of a surprise a few weeks back to see him among the list of big name rockstars coming out against kicking people off the internet for file sharing. Apparently, though, no one told Elton John that he was on that list, because now he's switched positions again and is saying that he's all for Peter Mandelson's proposal to kick people off the internet. Yes, just a couple weeks after his name was on a document against the very same proposal. Perhaps we shouldn't take much of what his opinion is this week seriously, when even he doesn't seem to know what it is.

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UK IP Minister Defends Kicking People Off The Internet, As Rockstars Come Out Against It

from the who-is-this-protecting-again? dept

Despite the UK gov't insisting recently that a policy of kicking file sharers off the internet was off the table, a nice dinner between UK Business Secretary Peter Mandelson and Hollywood bigshot David Geffen created a sudden new interest in the subject, which quickly turned into it being right back on the table -- creating massive complaints from just about everyone not associated with the RIAA or MPAA. Mandelson has tried to defend the idea, but his reasoning came up short, and demonstrated that he got his talking points direct from Hollywood and that he hasn't actually spent much time actually understanding the issue at all.

But, it's not just Mandelson in the gov't pushing this now. The UK's Intellectual Property Minister, David Lammy, got to hang around with the MPAA and gave a speech "defending" kicking people off of the internet. Now doesn't that seem strange? It's the MPAA that's among those pushing for such a plan in the first place. So, Lammy is preaching to the choir. Why not "defend" the plan in front of actual consumers or ISPs or musicians who are up in arms about this idea? You don't "defend" the idea to the people who already want it and who were already wining and dining you to get it back on the table after you'd taken it off.

And, yes, I said musicians who are up in arms about this -- and not just small indie musicians either. Michael Geist notes that folks like Paul McCartney and Elton John have come out against the proposal as well. So, ISPs think it's terrible. Music fans think it's terrible. Musicians think it's terrible. Who's left? Oh, just some dying industries who have done everything possible not to innovate for a decade. But they sure do spend money on lobbyists.

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Spoof Elton John Diary Not Libelous

from the get-a-sense-of-humor dept

The UK has much stricter libel laws than in the US, but at least there are some reasonable limitations. Elton John has lost a libel case against the Guardian newspaper for publishing a spoof diary from John that mocked his White Tie and Tiara Ball fundraiser. The whole thing was clearly a spoof -- and it's a feature that the Guardian does on a regular basis. Yet, John still was apparently offended and felt that it was libelous. The judge, though, pointed out that no reasonable person would take the obviously fake diary entry as serious news. Who knew we now needed judges to tell people they need to get a better sense of humor.

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Elton John Wants The Internet Shut Down For Five Years... For The Sake Of The Music

from the sir-rocket-man-should-get-out-more dept

It's always fun when someone famous decides to spout off on a topic in a bizarre manner. Witness Elton John's tirade against the internet (found via News.com). Apparently, he believes that the 70s were a great time in music (no, seriously, he means it) and that today's music sucks -- and it's all the internet's fault. It's got nothing to do with downloading (though it doesn't sound like he's a fan of that either), but because he somehow thinks that the internet means that people don't communicate with each other any more -- and musicians are all producing music by themselves in their basements. I guess no one has clued him into the fact that the internet is a communications medium, and it's generally used more to connect people than to isolate them. He also is apparently unaware of a growing number of tools that actually let musicians collaborate online, such as eJamming. He admits he's a Luddite and unfamiliar with the technology -- and his quotes confirm that. Try these on for size:

• "We're talking about things that are going to change the world and change the way people listen to music and that's not going to happen with people blogging on the internet."
• "I mean, get out there -- communicate."
• "Hopefully the next movement in music will tear down the internet."
• "Let's get out in the streets and march and protest instead of sitting at home and blogging."
• "I do think it would be an incredible experiment to shut down the whole internet for five years and see what sort of art is produced over that span."
• "There's too much technology available."

It would be easy to refute each of these somewhat laughable points, but, honestly, why bother? Since Sir Elton John apparently doesn't recognize that most people use the internet to communicate, it's unlikely that news of how uninformed he is will ever get back to him. Either he's completely out of touch, or he's decided that trolling is about the only way to get anyone to pay attention to him any more.

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