Intimidation tactics. It is an interesting course of action that the RIAA has grown fond of; using it to scare potential P2P users into submission. It also seems to be the weapon of choice of our Attorney Generals; as a potentially threatening letter is sent to P2P operators.

Yesterday, 45 Attorney Generals sent the Executive Director of P2P United, Adam Eisgrau, along with Sharman Networks a letter regarding their online practices. Much like Orrin Hatch's indictment of the P2P industry, the 45 Attorney Generals stressed that file-sharing programmers are not doing enough to thwart alleged illegal activity.

The letter specifies the usual suspects: proliferation of child pornography, spyware, viruses and improper sharing. The Attorney Generals charge that P2P developers are not doing enough to stop these subversive activities.

"We have carefully considered your response to the issues raised by P2P software as presented during the June 15-18, 2004 Summer Meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General and the June 8-9, 2004 National Association of Attorneys General Internet Conference. However, we find that this response fails to address the issues raised by P2P software."

However, the GAO (Government Accounting Office) stated in November of 2003 that child pornography, spyware, viruses, ect., are no more pervasive on P2P networks than other Internet protocols such as the World Wide Web.

CEO of StreamCast Networks, Michael Weiss, offered this statement to Slyck regarding the Attorney General's actions. Interestingly, news of this letter hit the Internet before the members of P2P United actually received it.

"This appears to be a case of contempt prior to investigation. While we
have not seen the letter yet, it seems to be based on the letter originally authored by head of Government Affairs for the MPAA, Van Stevenson.

Based on media reports regarding the letter, we can only speculate on who
might be misleading the Attorney Generals with ridiculously false statements such as 'Files reside on the hard drives of computer users and can be accessed via high-speed Internet connections even when the computer is shut off.'

These scare tactics are starting to border on the absurd and appears to be a continuation of the lies and deceit being perpetrated by the entertainment industry against P2P companies to Congress, the American Public and now, the offices of the Attorney Generals. Perhaps Congress needs to investigate the Entertainment Industry more so than the P2P Industry."

Althought the letter does not specify any kind of enforcement action against P2P developers, we leave you with this final thought:

"...we take seriously the need to investigate and prosecute violations of
our laws wherever they may be taking place – on the Internet, in the brick and mortar world, or on P2P networks."

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
File-Sharing/P2P Related :: Statistics/Analysis

You can read the letter here (PDF Format.)

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