Paul McGuinness, the outspoken manager of U2, has come out with a rant on the filesharing debate that makes quite possibly the most sense we have heard for months. Rather than pushing the blame for filesharing onto unsuspecting students and people who enjoy music, McGuinness has put the blame squarely on the music industry and ISPs.

Opponents of the RIAA’s stance on filesharing have long cited that the music industry’s late attempts to deal with the issue have been a major source of the problem. How could the RIAA possibly attempt to stop a juggernaut traveling at 100km/h by scattering a few Lego bricks in its path?

Filesharing is not something that can be sopped with million-dollar fines or rash lawsuits. Of course, McGuinness is not speaking out in favor of filesharing, but he is clearly aware that the people who use filesharing programs are not to blame for the problem and should not be targeted as a result.

“If you were a magazine advertising stolen cars, handling the money for stolen cars and seeing to the delivery of stolen cars, the police would soon be at your door,” he said.

“That’s no different to an ISP,” he added.

If more people in influential positions started speaking in this way, it could be a revolution.

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