Fergie's Tech Blog

Congress to attempt legislation of P2P file-sharing?

Yeah, that's right -- outlaw it. It'll just thrive in the networking underground. This idea wins my personal "Asinine Proposal of the Day" award.

Anne Broache writes in C|Net News:

A California senator has suggested that because file-sharing networks continue to house illegal files, they should be shut down.

Intellectual property protection "can't function in a country where the high-tech services become such that you can't protect copyright," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Wednesday at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The session centered on the landmark Supreme Court decision on MGM v. Grokster, which ruled that file-sharing services can be liable for their users' infringing behavior.

Pointing to what she called a "rise in peer to peers" since the Grokster decision, Feinstein said current law is not effective enough to deter illegal file swapping and the government must enact stronger enforcement measures. "If we don't stop it," she said, "it's going to destroy these intellectual property industries."

It remained unclear what remedies the senator would seek, though she said she didn't think any lawmakers supported an approach that would involve "going out and arresting high schoolers" who subvert copyright rules. Even so, her statements marked somewhat of a departure: When the Grokster decision initially came out, members of Congress said they were inclined to take a hands-off, wait-and-see approach.

posted by Fergie @ 9/28/2005 01:08:00 PM