It’s official: Bono is a complete tool.

In the past U2 has allowed its manager, Paul McGuinness, to be the mouthpiece any time the band wanted to make pointed comments about the evils of file sharing.  He has never measured his words and even likened ISPs to shoplifters.  However, over the weekend, U2 front man Bono decided to finally speak for himself in an editorial he wrote for The New York Times.

Caution! The only thing protecting the movie and TV industries from the fate that has befallen music and indeed the newspaper business is the size of the files. 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. Many will expect to get it free.

A decade’s worth of music file-sharing and swiping has made clear that the people it hurts are the creators — in this case, the young, fledgling songwriters who can’t live off ticket and T-shirt sales like the least sympathetic among us — and the people this reverse Robin Hooding benefits are rich service providers, whose swollen profits perfectly mirror the lost receipts of the music business.

We’re the post office, they tell us; who knows what’s in the brown-paper packages? But 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. Perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product. Note to self: Don’t get over-rewarded rock stars on this bully pulpit, or famous actors; find the next Cole Porter, if he/she hasn’t already left to write jingles.

Where do I even begin with how wrong he’s gotten this whole thing?

The fight to stop child pornography online is a very different creature than fighting copyright infringement that uses completely different technology.  Most file sharing is done via peer-to-peer software across what are known as BitTorrent services.  (I explained in-depth how the technology works in a past article, so you can go there if you want to read the full description.)  Most child pornography is traded in private message boards and not across open networks such as BitTorrent so that the parties involved can keep a closer eye on who is involved in the file trading.

In other words, Bono is comparing apples and oranges when it comes to technology and the manners in which those people can be hunted down and stopped.  As for the example he cites in China, again, apples and oranges.  His complete lack of understanding of the fundamentals of how file sharing is done is atrocious for a man who is putting himself out there at the forefront of the fight.  If you’re going to speak publicly on such matters, you might want to at least have a basic understanding of the subject at hand.

Note to self: Don’t get over-rewarded rock stars on this bully pulpit, or famous actors; find the next Cole Porter, if he/she hasn’t already left to write jingles.

I quoted this part again because the whole self-deprecating aspect of this was just so heavy-handed and an obvious attempt at trying to deflect any criticism of his saying all of this as to make it laughable.

Big rock stars have not had much luck taking on music piracy, just ask Lars Ulrich of Metallica how it worked out for him and his band.  They were some of the biggest critics of Napster back in the day, and it took them years to recover from the backlash of music fans that couldn’t stand the idea of one of the richest musicians in the world telling them how sharing music with one another was wrong.  Yeah, it didn’t work out too well for them, and it won’t work too well for you either, Bono.

The other issue is if you talk to small bands  – their interviews are all over the Web — they like file sharing.  Getting to be a known band in this day and age without major label support is next to impossible.  File sharing has provided them with a grassroots way to promote their work, and, in turn, get people to come to their shows and buy t-shirts.  This is where the real money is made for any act as the royalties paid on music are tiny at best, hence why t-shirts cost $25 at shows when it costs them only a dollar or two to produce them.  (note: I’ve been involved in t-shirt manufacturing … trust me on the cost …)

I spoke recently about how Bono is an idiot after the U2 concert was shown on YouTube.  Basically this man can’t open his mouth any more without sticking his foot in up to his ankle.  His inflated sense of self-importance has reached a point of sickening.  Whether it’s about how “green” his band is, or how he has no understanding about the evil technology he has chosen to attack, this guy really should just shut up before he makes himself look like an even bigger fool.