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P2P United Responds to California Attorney General
March 15, 2004
California Attorney General (AG) Bill Lockyer recently sent a letter to several major P2P developers, echoing a request made late last year by the copyright industry to self-regulate. The letter is ominous in nature, as it warns that P2P developers need to conform to California's standards of a responsible corporate citizen.The letter stresses that P2P developers need to take more responsibility to inform users of the “dangers” of file-sharing software, such as child pornography, viruses and exposed shared directories.
The music industry has been hammering the point that P2P software is potentially dangerous because it can expose individual's private records. As long as P2P has been around, reports have circulated that individuals inadvertently expose their entire root directory. For those who still do not know how to establish a shared directory, this could allow private records, such as medical records and emails, to be available for download. From AG Bill Lockyer's letter:
"...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."
Despite a recent GAO (Government Accounting Office) report that stated that offensive forms of pornography are more plentiful and prevalent through the World Wide Web, the letter from AG Bill Lockyer places much of the responsibility on P2P developers:
"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"
Perhaps most interesting is P2P United's response, who go so far as to question the authenticity of the letter. Here is an excerpt from their hand delivered response:
, the letter contains so many factual errors concerning peer-to-peer technology and the allegedly disproportionate “danger” that it poses to the public relative to other popular means of accessing and searching the internet (e.g., Google or AOL) that it would seem unlikely to have been produced by your office..."
In addition, there is the suggestion that the letter sent by Attorney General was either heavily influenced, or outright written, by the MPAA.
"...the “metadata” associated with the document identifies its author as “stevensonv”. (Such data, I’m informed, is automatically created by MS Word and viewable through the “Properties” and “Statistics” tabs accessed from the “File” menu.) Curiously, Mr. Vans Stevenson is the principal state affairs lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America. An e-mail sent to “stevensonv@mpaa.org” on Friday evening was not rejected by the MPAA server. Indeed, I received a personal reply on Saturday afternoon. For your convenience, a printout of the metadata screen at issue also is attached and an electronic copy of the draft letter has been e-mailed to Ms. Lynne Ross of your organization so that you may access the metadata directly if you wish to do so."
If the letter was indeed drafted or influenced by the MPAA, it would mark a dangerous turn of events for the American political landscape. While copyright holders have enjoyed a substantial amount of support from members of the US Government, that support may erode by those looking to distance themselves from this potentially disastrous political situation.
You can read the original letter from the Attorney General here.
You can read P2P United’s response here.
You can read the associated metadata here.
In addition, there is the suggestion that the letter sent by Attorney General was either heavily influenced, or outright written, by the MPAA.
"...the “metadata” associated with the document identifies its author as “stevensonv”. (Such data, I’m informed, is automatically created by MS Word and viewable through the “Properties” and “Statistics” tabs accessed from the “File” menu.) Curiously, Mr. Vans Stevenson is the principal state affairs lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America. An e-mail sent to “stevensonv@mpaa.org” on Friday evening was not rejected by the MPAA server. Indeed, I received a personal reply on Saturday afternoon. For your convenience, a printout of the metadata screen at issue also is attached and an electronic copy of the draft letter has been e-mailed to Ms. Lynne Ross of your organization so that you may access the metadata directly if you wish to do so."
If the letter was indeed drafted or influenced by the MPAA, it would mark a dangerous turn of events for the American political landscape. While copyright holders have enjoyed a substantial amount of support from members of the US Government, that support may erode by those looking to distance themselves from this potentially disastrous political situation.
You can read the original letter from the Attorney General here.
You can read P2P United’s response here.
You can read the associated metadata here.
This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
Authorized P2P :: P2P United
Legal/Courtroom :: Developer Lawsuits
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