Virgin back in BUCKMAN’S profit despite Russia BATTLE TO...
1
ohn Buckman hands his fold-up bicycle to the maître d’, scans the menu, gently rebuffs the somme- lier’s suggestion of English sparkling wine (“You can't even cook with it”) and set- tles in for a philosophical chat. The British-born, US and French- educated head of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a man without borders, who splits his time between London and Silicon Valley, running two businesses, indulging his passions for the arts, and cam- paigning for freedom on the internet. When The Independent caught up with him in the UK, he was alive with tales of a recent “soirée” at his Lon- don home, a regular event he holds in the style of a French salon. He had invited a shakuhachi player to enter- tain the guests, if entertain is the pre- cise word, since the didgeridoo-style Japanese flute is more of a personal meditative tool than a performance instrument. “It’s the one perform- ance where it is perfectly acceptable to fall asleep,” he says. One of Mr Buckman’s businesses is Magnatune, a distributor of world and classical music and defunct styles of Eighties electronica, by artists who have found no place in the modern factories of iTunes and cost- cutting record-label giants. Unlike traditional labels, Magnatune lets the artists keep the rights to their work. “I make about three months’ rent for 4,000 musicians, and that’s my con- tribution right now,” he explains. Mr Buckman’s other venture is BookMooch, whose 250,000 mem- bers swap second-hand books amongst themselves. “It was inspired by a Bruce Sterling science-fiction story, where everyone had a watch on them that kept track of what they were doing and suggested favours they could do for others at no cost to themselves, through an invisible co- operative net.” This pair of ventures, like his soirées, speak to Mr Buckman’s belief that the world is at its best when people collaborate, share and create, and where the internet is the most powerful force for achieving these goals. It is a vision of the web that is under constant threat from corporations that aggressively enforce “all rights reserved” copy- right, and from governments and courts who spend too much time snooping on what people do online. Which is why he joined the EFF, and the board of the Open Rights Group, a similar UK-based campaign group. “I am not actually a very polit- ical person,” he says, “but I find there is a British person in me, saying: ‘That’s not on.’” The EFF was founded 21 years ago in an early wave of public and corpo- rate concern about computer hack- ers, to defend computer program- mers and entrepreneurs caught up in the US authorities’ campaign against cyber-crime. Some of its first funding came from the co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak. It still advises hack- ers these days – not the “black hat” types out to steal people’s credit-card details, but the kids and hobbyists who risk falling foul of intellectual property laws when they tinker with other people’s source codes or hard- ware – and it goes into battle to shape copyright and free-speech laws through the US court system. It took on the Texan telecoms giant AT&T which was revealed to have secretly aided the security services by allowing them access to phone records and to wiretap customers in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, a case that was stopped only when Congress retrospectively legitimised the assistance. In the UK, the EFF is campaigning against new laws to block websites suspected of aiding music and film piracy, and last week it welcomed the Government’s climb- down from provisions of the Digital Economy Act that would have forced internet service providers to do so. “Instead of trying to get laws passed or repealed, we try to get case law we like,” Mr Buckman says. “Judges are much more reasonable people than politicians. They listen to arguments and they are supposed to make a decision based on what everyone heard, not on a back-room deal. But when you consider we are 50 people working on the entire body of US law against every company that wants to push things too far, that is not many people.” For many companies, particularly music and media businesses, the EFF’s lines are hard to swallow. But the bottom line, according to its chairman, is this: the internet is new, the laws governing it are new, and it is important to carve out as much protection for free speech and free- dom of activity as possible. Laws that might seem to be aimed only at child pornographers or music pirates might one day be used to infringe basic human rights and to censor the web in egregious ways. “One of the most interesting things that WikiLeaks has taught is that your best defence against the govern- ment is putting your words out on dead trees. If you are purely digital, you don’t have seem to have any- where near as strong a legal defence. A huge amount of our effort goes into building up case law to show that journalism online should have all the same legal protections. And by jour- nalism we mean a very broad defini- tion of journalism that includes blog- gers and citizen journalists. Essen- tially anyone who writes on the inter- net engages in journalism, and we think should be protected.” The EFF under Mr Buckman is carving out an influential niche in the world of advocacy, on – as its name suggests – the frontier of technical and business innovation. There are running battles to come between those who envision a sometimes anarchic, always collaborative, inter- net where people freely share, adapt and build new ventures, and those who want to impose order and restore the primacy of intellectual property over those who would steal it. The polymath has chosen his side, and Mr Buckman is clear about why. “London is a screaming example of the success that openness leads to,” he says, before cycling off into the Central London traffic. “In the Euro- pean Union now, every talented person who leaves school spends a couple of years in London. It’s the new British empire. Where before we had bureaucrats all over the world, now we have Anglophiles.” 37 THE INDEPENDENT THURSDAY 11 AUGUST 2011 llllll Interview Business 36 llllll THURSDAY 11 AUGUST 2011 THE INDEPENDENT Business ORDER BY PHONE: Call the Credit Card Hotline on: 0845 166 4222 QUOTE REF: FY8F Max call charge 4p/minute from BT Lines (24hrs/7 days). Other networks may vary. To order online visit www.independentoffers.co.uk/FY8F Mastercard/Visa welcome. Allow up to 21 days for delivery. We deliver to UK mainland addresses only. For overseas orders, call for postage quotation. Subject to availability. Order by midday for express delivery, available weekdays only. If not satis- ed return unused within 7 days for a full refund minus express delivery. Independent Print Limited. Registered in England No. 1908967. Offer supplied and fullled by Timscris Reader Offers. BY POST: INDEPENDENT SUMMER DUVET OFFER (FY8F), PO BOX 250, ROCHESTER, KENT ME1 9AJ I enclose a crossed cheque for £ .......... (address on back) made payable to:- Independent Reader Offers, or debit my Mastercard/Visa/Delta/Switch account by this amount. Title: Name: BLOCK CAPITALS PLEASE Address: Postcode: Tel: Email: Card Number Expiry Start Issue Security Date: Date: No. Code: Signature Independent Print Ltd would like to tell you about relevant new promotions, services and products, but need your permission to do so. If you would like to hear from us please tick the box. Please tick the box if you would like to hear from third party organisations who may have specic offers to make to you. ReadeR OFFeR Please send me Qty Price Sub total Single £34.99 Double £44.99 King £54.99 Superking £64.99 Pillows (pair) £24.99 TOTAL FeatheRweight dUCK FeatheR aNd dOwN dUvets FROM ONLY £34.99 INCL. P&P For a cool, relaxed night’s sleep on even the warmest summer night, these great value duck feather and down* duvets are ideal. With a rating of only 2.5 tog, they are among the lightest duvets currently available. These luxurious duvets are lled with 100% duck feather and down and have 100% cotton cambric covers while the square pocket construction, keeps the lling rmly in place for added comfort. With saving of up to £65 on rrp, why not treat yourself to a matching pair of pillows for only £24.99, saving £25 on rrp. Price rrp Save Single £34.99 £69.99 £35 Double £44.99 £89.99 £45 King £54.99 £109.99 £55 Superking £64.99 £129.99 £65 Pillows (Pair) £24.99 £49.99 £25 SAVE 50% ON THE RRP 2.5 tog ideal for summer *85% duck feather, 15% duck down Virgin back in profit despite stiff headwinds VIRGIN ATLANTIC returned to cruising speed yesterday as the airline’s finances soared back into the black despite taking a £40m hit from the ash cloud and winter cold snap. The carrier, which is still majority owned by Sir Richard Branson, report- ed pre-tax profits of £18.5m over the year to the end of March, with revenues up by 13 per cent to £2.7bn. The previ- ous year, the group slumped £132m into the red as the credit crunch and the subsequent recession wreaked havoc in the aviation industry. The upbeat figures came the day after Virgin Atlantic finally did a deal with its pilots to avert strike action threatened for months in a dispute over pay and conditions. Virgin Atlantic chief executive Steve Ridgway was bullish yesterday. “We have demonstrated the resilience of our business by weathering the tough- est economic period for aviation and have now returned the business to prof- it,” he said. The momentum is continuing, the airline added. In the most recent quar- ter – the three months to the end of May – Virgin Atlantic has introduced two new Airbus A330s and also launched a new route from Manches- ter to Las Vegas. Revenues for the quarter rose by 7.6 per cent to £658m, the group said. However, Mr Ridgway warned of tougher trading conditions ahead as the global economic outlook continued to darken. “A sharp recovery in the first half of the year has been tempered by more challenged trading in the latter period due to increased capacity in the market and high fuel prices,” he said last night. Virgin Atlantic is not the only carri- er to be feeling the pinch. Air France and Lufthansa both recently published financial results hit by spiralling oil prices, while US carrier Delta admit- ted its fuel bill was outpacing its rev- enue growth. That said, Virgin Atlantic is going ahead with plans to invest £100m in the business over the months ahead. The investment programme includes plans to buy new Airbus A330 aircraft, launch additional services to the Caribbean and Ghana, and create 1,000 jobs. The group is also doubling the size of its Virgin Holiday retail chain, cre- ating another 200 jobs as the network of stores expands to 120 outlets. “Whilst we have been very focused on trading the airline back to profitabil- ity, we have worked hard to introduce new aircraft, new routes and extra rotations to the existing network where there has been high demand,” Mr Ridg- way said. Following this week’s deal with the pilots’ trade union, Virgin Atlantic will now undertake a major recruitment drive to up both cabin crews and pilot numbers. Some 63 per cent of Virgin Atlantic members of the British Air- line Pilots Association this week voted in favour of a settlement of the dis- pute, in response to an improved offer from management including a prof- it-sharing scheme and a review of working conditions. By Sarah Arnott BP FACES yet more vexation from its Russian activities after minori- ty shareholders in its TNK-BP joint venture launched an 87 bil- lion-rouble (£1.8bn) damages claim yesterday. The action is just the latest to fol- low the British oil giant’s abortive attempts at a $10bn (£6.1bn) tie-up with Russia’s Rosneft earlier this year. That move was blocked in the courts by BP’s TNK-BP partner – the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR) consortium – on the grounds that it violated the joint venture’s share- holder agreement, which specifies all investors’ activities in Russia must be offered to the company. The Rosneft deal may have col- lapsed, but the debacle is not yet over for BP. AAR is still pursuing the company, claiming damages of reportedly as much as $10bn. And earlier this week, BP launched a counterclaim, against Renova, over its holdings in other Russian oil and gas companies. In the latest development yes- terday, two claims were lodged by TNK-BP minority shareholders, led by Andrey Prokhorov, in a Russ- ian Court of Arbitration. The claims assert that TNK-BP has suffered significant losses: first because managers in BP group must have been aware of the Rosneft talks but did not notify TNK-BP of the opportunity, and, second, because BP rejected subsequent TNK-BP suggestions of a joint deal. The hearings will go ahead from September. But BP yesterday roundly rejected the claims. “We do not believe there is any legiti- mate basis whatsoever for such a claim,” a spokesman for the com- pany said. “If any such claim is ad- vanced against BP or the directors of TNK-BP Holding, these will be vigorously defended.” By Sarah Arnott BP hit with new legal headache in Russia Virgin has this week managed to avert the threat of strike action from its pilots, with union members backing an improved offer from the airline’s management THE CHIEF executive of Tui Travel, owner of Thomson holidays, has warned that more small travel firms are likely to collapse into administration, as the tour operator unveiled a jump in third-quarter profits. Following the collapse of tour operator Holidays 4U last week, Tui’s boss, Peter Long, said: “The smaller companies in this envi- ronment will find it very diffi- cult. There is a reasonable chance that these companies will not survive.” His comments came as Tui posted a 57 per cent leap in prof- its to £88m for the quarter to 30 June. It was boosted by a “strong” performance from its Nordic and UK businesses, despite the squeeze on consumer spending in this country. But in the wake of the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, Tui’s French tour operators have faced “very challenging” trading. Still, Tui’s fortunes contrast with Thomas Cook, which has issued three profits warnings this year and recently lost its chief executive. By James Thompson Tui warns of more pain to come for travel industry John Buckman’s entrepreneurial skills are put to good use in the battle to defend his vision of the web. Stepen Foley reports BUCKMAN’S BATTLE TO KEEP THE INTERNET FREE FOR ALL BUCKMAN IN BRIEF n Campaigner: Chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation since 2010; director of the Open Rights Group. n Entrepreneur: Currently chief execu- tive of BookMooch, a book-swap serv- ice, and Magnatune, an artist-friendly record label. Previously founded Lyris, a direct-marketing firm. “At one point George Bush used my software to send out all his emails in his re-election cam- paign. To do penance I gave a free copy to the Howard Dean campaign.” n World traveller: Born in London and raised in France and the US, his family moved around with his father’s job as an executive for Singer sewing machines. Studied philosophy at Bates College in Maine and the Sorbonne. n Musician: Renaissance lute and viola da gamba player, and a composer of jazz and classical jingles for radio. Peter Long, CEO of Tui Travel, fears more small companies will go bust VISMEDIA John Buckman believes in the sanctity of free speech on the web J
Transcript of Virgin back in BUCKMAN’S profit despite Russia BATTLE TO...
ohn Buckman hands hisfold-up bicycle to themaître d’, scans the menu,gently rebuffs the somme-lier’s suggestion of Englishsparkling wine (“You can'teven cook with it”) and set-tles in for a philosophicalchat.
The British-born, US and French-educated head of the ElectronicFrontier Foundation (EFF) is a manwithout borders, who splits his timebetween London and Silicon Valley,running two businesses, indulginghis passions for the arts, and cam-paigning for freedom on the internet.
When The Independent caught upwith him in the UK, he was alive withtales of a recent “soirée” at his Lon-don home, a regular event he holds inthe style of a French salon. He hadinvited a shakuhachi player to enter-tain the guests, if entertain is the pre-cise word, since the didgeridoo-styleJapanese flute is more of a personalmeditative tool than a performanceinstrument. “It’s the one perform-ance where it is perfectly acceptableto fall asleep,” he says.
One of Mr Buckman’s businesses isMagnatune, a distributor of worldand classical music and defunctstyles of Eighties electronica, byartists who have found no place in themodern factories of iTunes and cost-cutting record-label giants. Unliketraditional labels, Magnatune lets theartists keep the rights to their work.“I make about three months’ rent for4,000 musicians, and that’s my con-tribution right now,” he explains.
Mr Buckman’s other venture isBookMooch, whose 250,000 mem-bers swap second-hand booksamongst themselves. “It was inspiredby a Bruce Sterling science-fictionstory, where everyone had a watch onthem that kept track of what theywere doing and suggested favoursthey could do for others at no cost tothemselves, through an invisible co-operative net.”
This pair of ventures, like hissoirées, speak to Mr Buckman’sbelief that the world is at its bestwhen people collaborate, share and
create, and where the internet is themost powerful force for achievingthese goals. It is a vision of the webthat is under constant threat fromcorporations that aggressivelyenforce “all rights reserved” copy-right, and from governments andcourts who spend too much timesnooping on what people do online.
Which is why he joined the EFF,and the board of the Open RightsGroup, a similar UK-based campaigngroup. “I am not actually a very polit-ical person,” he says, “but I find thereis a British person in me, saying:‘That’s not on.’”
The EFF was founded 21 years agoin an early wave of public and corpo-rate concern about computer hack-ers, to defend computer program-mers and entrepreneurs caught up inthe US authorities’ campaign againstcyber-crime. Some of its first fundingcame from the co-founder of Apple,Steve Wozniak. It still advises hack-ers these days – not the “black hat”types out to steal people’s credit-carddetails, but the kids and hobbyistswho risk falling foul of intellectualproperty laws when they tinker withother people’s source codes or hard-ware – and it goes into battle to shapecopyright and free-speech lawsthrough the US court system.
It took on the Texan telecoms giantAT&T which was revealed to havesecretly aided the security servicesby allowing them access to phonerecords and to wiretap customers inthe wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, acase that was stopped only whenCongress retrospectively legitimisedthe assistance. In the UK, the EFF iscampaigning against new laws toblock websites suspected of aidingmusic and film piracy, and last weekit welcomed the Government’s climb-down from provisions of the DigitalEconomy Act that would have forcedinternet service providers to do so.
“Instead of trying to get lawspassed or repealed, we try to get caselaw we like,” Mr Buckman says.“Judges are much more reasonablepeople than politicians. They listen toarguments and they are supposed tomake a decision based on what
everyone heard, not on a back-roomdeal. But when you consider we are50 people working on the entire bodyof US law against every companythat wants to push things too far, thatis not many people.”
For many companies, particularlymusic and media businesses, theEFF’s lines are hard to swallow. Butthe bottom line, according to itschairman, is this: the internet is new,the laws governing it are new, and itis important to carve out as muchprotection for free speech and free-dom of activity as possible. Laws thatmight seem to be aimed only at childpornographers or music piratesmight one day be used to infringebasic human rights and to censor theweb in egregious ways.
“One of the most interesting thingsthat WikiLeaks has taught is thatyour best defence against the govern-ment is putting your words out ondead trees. If you are purely digital,you don’t have seem to have any-where near as strong a legal defence.A huge amount of our effort goes intobuilding up case law to show that
journalism online should have all thesame legal protections. And by jour-nalism we mean a very broad defini-tion of journalism that includes blog-
gers and citizen journalists. Essen-tially anyone who writes on the inter-net engages in journalism, and wethink should be protected.”
The EFF under Mr Buckman iscarving out an influential niche in theworld of advocacy, on – as its namesuggests – the frontier of technicaland business innovation. There arerunning battles to come betweenthose who envision a sometimesanarchic, always collaborative, inter-net where people freely share, adaptand build new ventures, and thosewho want to impose order andrestore the primacy of intellectualproperty over those who would stealit. The polymath has chosen his side,and Mr Buckman is clear about why.
“London is a screaming example ofthe success that openness leads to,”he says, before cycling off into theCentral London traffic. “In the Euro-pean Union now, every talentedperson who leaves school spends acouple of years in London. It’s thenew British empire. Where before wehad bureaucrats all over the world,now we have Anglophiles.”
37THE INDEPENDENT THURSDAY11AUGUST 2011 l l l l l l
Interview Business36 l l l l l l THURSDAY11AUGUST 2011 THE INDEPENDENT
Business
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Single £34.99Double £44.99King £54.99Superking £64.99Pillows (pair) £24.99
TOTAL
FeatheRweight dUCK FeatheR aNd dOwN dUvetsFROM ONLY £34.99 INCL. P&P
For a cool, relaxed night’s sleep on even the warmest summer night, these great value duck feather and down* duvets are ideal. With a rating of only 2.5 tog, they are among the lightest duvets currently available. These luxurious duvets are !lled with 100% duck feather and down and have 100% cotton cambric covers while the square pocket construction, keeps the !lling !rmly in place for added comfort. With saving of up to £65 on rrp, why not treat yourself to a matching pair of pillows for only £24.99, saving £25 on rrp.
Price rrp SaveSingle £34.99 £69.99 £35Double £44.99 £89.99 £45King £54.99 £109.99 £55Superking £64.99 £129.99 £65Pillows (Pair) £24.99 £49.99 £25
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Virgin back inprofit despitestiff headwinds
VIRGIN ATLANTIC returned to cruisingspeed yesterday as the airline’sfinances soared back into the blackdespite taking a £40m hit from the ashcloud and winter cold snap.
The carrier, which is still majorityowned by Sir Richard Branson, report-ed pre-tax profits of £18.5m over theyear to the end of March, with revenuesup by 13 per cent to £2.7bn. The previ-ousyear, the group slumped £132m intothe red as the credit crunch and thesubsequent recession wreaked havocin the aviation industry.
The upbeat figures came the dayafter Virgin Atlantic finally did a dealwith its pilots to avert strike actionthreatened for months in a dispute overpay and conditions.
Virgin Atlantic chief executive SteveRidgway was bullish yesterday. “Wehave demonstrated the resilience ofour business by weathering the tough-est economic period for aviation andhave now returned the business to prof-it,” he said.
The momentum is continuing, theairline added. In the most recent quar-ter – the three months to the end ofMay – Virgin Atlantic has introducedtwo new Airbus A330s and alsolaunched a new route from Manches-ter to Las Vegas.
Revenues for the quarter rose by 7.6per cent to £658m, the group said.
However, Mr Ridgway warned oftougher trading conditions ahead astheglobal economic outlook continuedtodarken. “A sharp recovery in the firsthalf of the year has been tempered bymore challenged trading in the latterperiod due to increased capacity in themarket and high fuel prices,” he saidlast night.
Virgin Atlantic is not the only carri-er to be feeling the pinch. Air Franceand Lufthansa both recently publishedfinancial results hit by spiralling oilprices, while US carrier Delta admit-ted its fuel bill was outpacing its rev-enue growth.
That said, Virgin Atlantic is goingahead with plans to invest £100m inthe business over the months ahead.The investment programme includesplans to buy new Airbus A330 aircraft,launch additional services to theCaribbean and Ghana, and create 1,000jobs.Thegroup is also doubling the sizeof its Virgin Holiday retail chain, cre-ating another 200 jobs as the networkof stores expands to 120 outlets.
“Whilst we have been very focusedontrading the airline back to profitabil-ity, we have worked hard to introducenew aircraft, new routes and extrarotations to the existing network wherethere has been high demand,” Mr Ridg-way said.
Following this week’s deal with thepilots’ trade union, Virgin Atlantic willnow undertake a major recruitmentdrive to up both cabin crews and pilotnumbers. Some 63 per cent of VirginAtlantic members of the British Air-linePilotsAssociation this week votedin favour of a settlement of the dis-pute, in response to an improved offerfrom management including a prof-it-sharing scheme and a review ofworking conditions.
By Sarah Arnott
BP FACES yet more vexation fromits Russian activities after minori-ty shareholders in its TNK-BPjoint venture launched an 87 bil-lion-rouble (£1.8bn) damagesclaim yesterday.
The action is just the latest to fol-low the British oil giant’s abortiveattempts at a $10bn (£6.1bn) tie-upwith Russia’s Rosneft earlier thisyear. That move was blocked in thecourts by BP’s TNK-BP partner –the Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR)consortium – on the grounds thatit violated the joint venture’s share-holder agreement, which specifiesall investors’ activities in Russiamust be offered to the company.
The Rosneft deal may have col-lapsed, but the debacle is not yetover for BP. AAR is still pursuingthe company, claiming damages ofreportedly as much as $10bn. Andearlier this week, BP launched acounterclaim, against Renova, overitsholdings in other Russian oil andgas companies.
In the latest development yes-terday, two claims were lodged byTNK-BP minority shareholders,ledby Andrey Prokhorov, in a Russ-ianCourt of Arbitration. The claimsassert that TNK-BP has sufferedsignificant losses: first becausemanagers in BP group must havebeen aware of the Rosneft talks butdid not notify TNK-BP of theopportunity, and, second, becauseBP rejected subsequent TNK-BPsuggestions of a joint deal.
The hearings will go ahead fromSeptember. But BP yesterdayroundly rejected the claims. “Wedo not believe there is any legiti-mate basis whatsoever for such aclaim,” a spokesman for the com-pany said. “If any such claim is ad-vanced against BP or the directorsof TNK-BP Holding, these will bevigorously defended.”
By Sarah Arnott
BP hit withnew legalheadache inRussia
Virgin has this weekmanaged to avert thethreat of strike actionfrom its pilots, with unionmembers backing animproved offer from theairline’s management
THE CHIEF executive of Tui Travel,owner of Thomson holidays, haswarned that more smalltravel firms are likely to collapseinto administration, as the touroperator unveiled a jump inthird-quarter profits.
Following the collapse of touroperator Holidays 4U last week,Tui’s boss, Peter Long, said: “Thesmaller companies in this envi-ronment will find it very diffi-cult. There is a reasonablechance that these companies willnot survive.”
His comments came as Tuiposted a 57 per cent leap in prof-its to £88m for the quarter to30 June. It was boosted by a“strong” performance from itsNordic and UK businesses,despite the squeeze on consumerspending in this country. But inthe wake of the unrest in theMiddle East and North Africa,Tui’s French tour operators havefaced “very challenging” trading.
Still, Tui’s fortunes contrastwith Thomas Cook, which hasissued three profits warningsthis year and recently lost itschief executive.
By James Thompson
Tui warns of more pain tocome for travel industry
John Buckman’s entrepreneurial skills areput to good use in the battle to defend hisvision of the web. Stepen Foley reports
BUCKMAN’SBATTLE TOKEEP THEINTERNETFREE FOR ALL
BUCKMAN IN BRIEF
n Campaigner: Chairman of theElectronic Frontier Foundation since2010; director of the Open Rights Group.n Entrepreneur: Currently chief execu-tive of BookMooch, a book-swap serv-ice, and Magnatune, an artist-friendlyrecord label. Previously founded Lyris, adirect-marketing firm. “At one pointGeorge Bush used my software to sendout all his emails in his re-election cam-paign. To do penance I gave a free copyto the Howard Dean campaign.”n World traveller: Born in London andraised in France and the US, his familymoved around with his father’s job as anexecutive for Singer sewing machines.Studied philosophy at Bates College inMaine and the Sorbonne.n Musician: Renaissance lute and violada gamba player, and a composer of jazzand classical jingles for radio.
Peter Long, CEO ofTui Travel, fears moresmall companies will
go bust VISMEDIA
John Buckmanbelieves in the
sanctity of freespeech on the web
J
