GATORIAN
August 5th, 2004, 09:55 AM
P2P content crack down ordered
Source : The Inquirer (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17662)
Author : nfarrell@netissat.bg ( Nick Farell
OVER FORTY US states are ordering P2P companies to crack down on illegal activities on their sites.
According to the Washington Post, the state law enforcement authorities are worried about the trading of child pornography and the trading of ripped off movies and music.
The group of state attorneys have written to Kazaa,
Grokster, BearShare, Blubster, eDonkey2000, LimeWire and Streamcast Networks to complain that their networks have been too many times been hijacked by those who use them for illegal purposes.
Although the letter does not threaten the networks, it does say: "We will, as appropriate, continue to initiate such actions in the future to stop deceptive and illegal practices by users of the Internet, including users of P2P software" if the networks do not take "concrete and meaningful steps" to prevent illegal use of their networks.
This is an interesting concept, as so far the courts have ruled that networks are not liable for acts of their users, but the attorneys general who signed the letter say such rulings do not fully exempt the networks from enforcement actions.
A spokesman for the Distributed Computing Industry Association said the letter was full of falsehoods, exaggerations, and included things that have been taken care of or are about to be completely addressed.
Source : The Inquirer (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17662)
Author : nfarrell@netissat.bg ( Nick Farell
OVER FORTY US states are ordering P2P companies to crack down on illegal activities on their sites.
According to the Washington Post, the state law enforcement authorities are worried about the trading of child pornography and the trading of ripped off movies and music.
The group of state attorneys have written to Kazaa,
Grokster, BearShare, Blubster, eDonkey2000, LimeWire and Streamcast Networks to complain that their networks have been too many times been hijacked by those who use them for illegal purposes.
Although the letter does not threaten the networks, it does say: "We will, as appropriate, continue to initiate such actions in the future to stop deceptive and illegal practices by users of the Internet, including users of P2P software" if the networks do not take "concrete and meaningful steps" to prevent illegal use of their networks.
This is an interesting concept, as so far the courts have ruled that networks are not liable for acts of their users, but the attorneys general who signed the letter say such rulings do not fully exempt the networks from enforcement actions.
A spokesman for the Distributed Computing Industry Association said the letter was full of falsehoods, exaggerations, and included things that have been taken care of or are about to be completely addressed.