DRAFT ATTORNEYS GENERAL LETTER

TO PEER-TO-PEER FILE SHARING

SOFTWARE MANUFACTURERS AND DISTRIBUTORS

(California Attorney General Bill Lockyer Edited Version 2/25/2004)

Dear:

We write to express our growing concern over the risks posed to consumers in our States from the use of your company’s peer-to-peer (“P2P”) file-sharing software – and your firm’s inadequate response to those risks.  As the chief law enforcement officers and primary consumer advocates for our States, we share a unique responsibility to ensure our laws are respected and our consumers are informed about, and protected from, dangerous products and services.   

The growth in P2P file-sharing has brought with it increased awareness of the risks associated with using these software programs.  Whether it is the widespread availability of pornography, including child pornography, the disclosure of sensitive personal information to millions of people, the exposure to pernicious computer worms and viruses, or the threat of legal liability for copyright infringement, P2P file-sharing software has proven costly and dangerous for many consumers. Even without accounting for the attempts of some P2P file sharing services to add functions making it more difficult for law enforcement to prosecute P2P users, such prosecutions are not sufficient by themselves to stop this activity.

As a P2P software developer and distributor, we believe you have the ability and responsibility to better educate consumers about these known risks, and to design your software in a manner that minimizes the risks. We view with grave concern reports that at least some P2P software developers may be adding features deliberately designed to hinder law enforcement in its prosecution of crimes using P2P software. Companies that engage in such conduct, and fail to meet the important responsibilities referenced above, harm the interests of consumers in our States.

It is widely recognized that P2P file-sharing software currently is used almost exclusively to disseminate pornography, and to illegally trade copyrighted music, movies, software and video games. File-sharing software also is increasingly becoming a means to disseminate computer worms and viruses. Nevertheless, your company still does little to warn consumers about the legal and personal risks they face when they use your software to “share” copyrighted music, movies and computer software.  A failure to prominently and adequately warn consumers, particularly when you advertise and sell paid versions of your software, could constitute, at the very least, a deceptive trade practice. 

Although millions of children initially are drawn to P2P because of free music and movies, these programs have become high tech speedways for distributing graphic pornography.  According to a January 25, 2004, New York Times Magazine article, “[c]ybernetworks like KaZaA and Morpheus -- have become the Mexican border of virtual sexual exploitation.” This is extremely dangerous and harmful to minors.  Faced with this obvious threat to children and adolescents, you have failed to provide any up-front warnings about the widespread availability of obscene material on P2P networks.  Failing to warn parents, or provide them with the ability to block or remove obscene and illegal material from their computers, is a serious threat to the health and safety of children and families in our States.

Finally, P2P users who do not fully understand the software’s uses have inadvertently given other P2P users access to tax returns, medical files, financial records, personal e-mail and confidential documents stored on their computers. Again, timely warning and education of P2P users can avoid the potential theft of their identities.

Over the coming months, we will begin focusing more attention on the risks P2P software programs pose to consumers in our States.  We hope this inquiry will encourage you to take proactive, concrete and meaningful steps to address the problems we have raised in this letter.  We believe such actions will help P2P software realize its potential as a means to facilitate a wide range of project management, business planning, and academic/education activities.

We take seriously our responsibility to protect consumers and ensure that the laws of our States are respected.  In the future, we will not hesitate to take whatever actions we deem necessary to ensure that you fulfill your duties as a responsible corporate citizen.    

We look forward to your timely response.

Sincerely,