US House Passes P2P Ban On Federal Networks

An anonymous reader writes "Recently, the US House of Representatives passed a bill in an attempt to ban peer-to-peer file-sharing applications on federal computers and networks. Similar bills have been proposed before, apparently in response to confidential government documents being found on LimeWire. The text of the bill, however, provides a very broad definition of 'peer-to-peer file sharing software,' and may extend to more than they intend (SMB? LDAP?)."

Bad law

[LordSnooty]

Why is computing subject to such vague law-making, so often? Do other sectors suffer to such a degree? Presumably, government law-drafters will call on experts to clarify finer points. But this often doesn't seem to happen with computing law.

Re:Whitelist, not blacklist!

[YrWrstNtmr]

It use to be that a base could keep its own list and the local people could control it,

Centralized control and admin. Used to be, a base would control its own network. No more. Even your local proxy server is now being admined from elsewhere.

Re:How am I supposed to patch World of Warcraft??

[matchhead650]

Personal computer are not allowed on government networks, and you will get caught installing unauthorized software on a government computer. There are plenty of other internet options in the desert though.