US Government Office Gives P2P Shot of Legitimacy

SlyckTom writes "On September 9, 2003, the GAO testified before the before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Their testimony centered on the proliferation and exposure of various types of detestable erotica to children. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Orrin G. Hatch, sent a follow-up letter to the GAO with several questions regarding the legitimacy of file-sharing networks. On November 14, 2003, the GOA responded with a surprisingly pro-P2P stance."

Pro-P2P, not pro-piracy

[AnnCoulterTroll]

the GOA responded with a surprisingly pro-P2P stance

You should also note that they did not come out and support piracy, only the usefulness of P2P as an application, similiar to other mediums such as USENET or the web. I still say that pirates support terrorism and should be shipped off to Gitmo.

Re:Pro-P2P, not pro-piracy

[OECD]

The Senate Judiciary Committee ... sent a follow-up letter to the GAO... On November 14, 2003, the GOA responded...

The GOA? What is this? Soviet Russia?

Oh, no!

[Anonymous Coward]

the proliferation and exposure of various types of detestable erotica to children

Poor erotica! I'll bet they were scarred for life by having to see those horrible kids.

Amazing

[kinnell]

I find it incredible that the legitimacy of file sharing networks is called into question - even by non-technical people. Isn't there a slight clue in the name - "file sharing". How can file sharing in itself be called bad? Isn't the WWW a file sharing network? This is a true triumph of propaganda over common sense.

Re:Amazing

[Oddly_Drac]

"How can file sharing in itself be called bad? Isn't the WWW a file sharing network? This is a true triumph of propaganda over common sense."

You wait until they start teaching that sharing is antisocial in schools.

The problem with the term "file sharing"

[Millennium]

"File sharing" -the term, at least- has been corrupted by misuse. If we go by the strict definition of the term, then of course there is nothing wrong with it.

The problem is that many pirates have misappropriated the term, using it as a euphemism for piracy. This wouldn't be so bad, except that RIAA/MPAA/whoever has caught wind of this, and is capitalizing on it by trying to convince people that this is the actual definition of the term. Essentially, the idiot pirates have allowed RIAA to make a plausible-

Re:The problem with the term "file sharing"

[Clever Pun]

Essentially, the idiot pirates have allowed RIAA to make a plausible-sounding claim that p2p networks are only used for piracy, because the pirates themselves use this term.

Well, yeah, but at the same time, the prevalence of applications like Kazaa, Limewire, and the like, and the fact that the vast majority of their users are not using them for legitimate (read: legal) purposes isn't doing much to help the situation. Yes, in theory, an office worker could use Kazaa to share a document with the rest of a

This is very positive for P2P

[Bonewalker]

The GAO is very influential, although I imagine they might be the butt of a smear campaign themselves soon.

This adds significant legitimacy to P2P, and holds law enforcement officials responsible for bad things that are shared, rather than blaming the technology.

Someone over there in the GAO has their head screwed on right.

Re:This is very positive for P2P

[BigBir3d]

>>> Someone over there in the GAO has their head screwed on right.

<sarcasm>
Diane is working on getting this fixed. Results should be visible by Feb 2004.
</sarcasm>

In other news

[Odinson]

AP Newswire 10/31/03 12:02pm: Three GAO board members were found dead in an Iraqi underground safehouse. One army medic commented the Government Accounting Office members, where apparently shot point blank with a Smith and Wesson. He promptly "applied for shore leave" and was unreachable. The pentegon declined to comment on this "senseless terrorist tragity." Saying the deaths were probably the result of secondhand fire durring raid on the safehouse. Nobody speculated on how the men got to Iraq becuse that would be hard to think about.