Responding to sharp criticism from legislators, a group of file-swapping companies told Congress that they have no ability to block copyrighted files or child pornography from their networks.
As part of a lengthy letter to Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-N.C., the P2P United trade association said Wednesday that file-swapping companies should not be held to a standard that is technologically infeasible.
Lawmakers “have been deliberately misinformed by self-interested industry about the technological capability of peer-to-peer services,” said Adam Eisgrau, P2P United’s executive director. “It is not that we won’t filter out copyrighted material and inappropriate sexual material. It’s that we can’t.”
The group’s claim, backed up by considerable technical documentation, comes as calls for filtering of file-swapping networks are rising in Congress and in courts.
Graham and a quartet of other legislators sent a letter to P2P United’s member companies last November, asking for assurances that the file-swapping companies would attempt to stop illegal material from being traded through their networks.
Most pointedly, the letter asked that the companies work to create some kind of filters that could block copyrighted material and pornography.
File-swapping companies have contended that this kind of filter is impossible in a decentralized system such as Gnutella or Kazaa.
In older file-swapping services such as the original Napster, in which searches were routed through a central point, a filtering mechanism was more feasible.
But in wholly decentralized networks, in which searches radiate out through a constantly shifting array of “nodes,” or individual computers, filters are impractical, the group said. Only by forcing the networks to change into something else–a centralized system, for example–would effective filters be useful, the group added.
Related
- Kazaa Could Filter Copyrighted Music, Critics Say
- P2P firms ask RIAA to prove that filtering can work
- Australia Continues Plan to Have ISPs Filter ‘Inappropriate’ Content
- P2P companies may face new scrutiny
- Aussie Minister: “I Never Wanted to Filter P2P”
