States Threaten Peer-to-Peer Sites

WASHINGTON -- Several states are cracking down on peer-to-peer sites as hotbeds of illegal file-trading.

Attorneys general from 47 U.S. states and territories have sent a letter out to P-to-P software vendors, saying they must re-engineer their software to prevent illegal file-trading do a better job of warning users of the dangers of trading illegal files. This action follows on news earlier this year that the states might get involved in the P-to-P fight.

The letter, signed by the attorneys general of California, Texas, Florida, and many others, calls for P-to-P vendors to also warn users about the amount of pornography traded through P-to-P software, including child pornography.

"P2P users need to be made aware that they are exposing themselves, and their children, to widespread availability of pornographic material when they download and install P2P file-sharing programs on their computers," the letter says.

Economic Harm Claimed

The attorneys general also accuse P-to-P software of hurting their local economies by encouraging illegal file trading. They also quote the Business Software Alliance and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as saying piracy costs their industries billions of dollars each year.

The letter also notes that some P-to-P vendors have taken steps to warn users about using the software to illegally trade files. "However, more needs to be done by your companies to warn your P2P users as to the specific legal and personal risks they face when they use P2P technology for the illegal ends of disseminating pornography and 'sharing' copyrighted music, movies and software," the letter says.

The attorneys general say they will take action against P-to-P users who illegally trade files. Law enforcement actions against P-to-P users don't "excuse your companies from avoiding software design changes that deliberately prevent law enforcement in our States from prosecuting P2P users for violations of the law," the letter says.

Redesign Request: Overkill?

Representatives of P-to-P vendors took issue with parts of the letter. P2P United, a P-to-P lobby group, is already working with the Federal Trade Commission to better educate and warn users of potential problems with using P-to-P software, says Adam Eisgrau, executive director of the group. "This is not a new issue, and it's something we'll continue to work on.a??

But the letter's call for P-to-P vendors to redesign their software, such as including centralized content filters, would cause the "neutering" of the potential of P-to-P, Eisgrau adds. "That cannot be done without radically changing the innovative nature of this software," he says.

With 47 attorneys general signing the letter, Eisgrau says his group takes the complaints seriously. But Eisgrau suggests copyright debates are best worked out in Congress, not state by state.

Instead of focusing on outlawing P-to-P software, the entertainment industry should work with P-to-P vendors to distribute their products, adds Marty Lafferty CEO of Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA), a trade group representing the Kazaa P-to-P software. "They haven't yet changed from trying to kill the technology to embracing it and trying to harness it," he says.

Lafferty calls the letter an "unfortunate distraction" in the DCIA's effort to reach compromise with the entertainment industry.

P2P United, the DCIA, Grokster, Lime Wire, and Sharman Networks, the owners of the Kazaa file-sharing software, are among the P-to-P vendors who received the letter.