US Attorneys General vs p2p
p2pnet.net News:- Yesterday, 40 US attorneys general wrote a joint letter to the handful of commercial p2p companies operating as legally constituted commercial enterprises in America.
The letter is dressed up as an earnest plea from the caring legal authorities of the states to, “take concrete and meaningful steps to address the serious risks posed to the consumers of our States by your company’s peer-to-peer (’P2P’) file-sharing technology”.
Among other things, “P2P file-sharing technology can allow its users to access the files of other users, even when the computer is ‘off’ if the computer itself is connected to the Internet via broadband,” say the 40 AGs in a statement reminiscent of INDUCE activist senator Orrin Hatch who recently told a senate hearing:
“When used as intended, this software [p2p] automatically redistributes every file downloaded. This makes uploading and redistribution automatic and invisible to the average user.” (Interestingly, Utah AG Mark Shurtleff isn’t on the list. Utah is, of course, Hatch’s home state.)
Both statements are totally incorrect but they’ll be repeated as ‘facts’ ad nauseum by the mainstream media and subsequently repeated by US politicans looking for a cheap ride on the backs of the p2p companies.
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) represents the major Hollywood movie studios and together with its opposite number in the corporate music industry, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), is engaged in a no-holds-barred, multi-million-dollar effort to gain literal control of what consumers do online, and how they do it.
To achieve this it must first discredit and then destroy the p2p companies, commercial and free independents both.
The Attorneys General letter, replete with innacuracies and half-truths, appears to be the final version of a draft which started out in the office of California state attorney Bill Lockyer in March and was edited by MPAA executive Vans Stevenson, who reported directly to then MPAA boss Jack Valenti.
In other words, Hollywood, which has repeatedly and publicly vowed to crush the p2p business at any cost, worked on a text which it seems is now being circulated as an official document by the National Association of Attorneys General, of which Lockyer is president.
But no one, least of all the mainstream American media, seems to find that at all peculiar.
The states whose AG are signatories include:
Alibama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virgin Islands, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Hold-outs at this point are Alaska, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.
August 6th, 2004 at 3:41 pm
“P2P file-sharing technology can allow its users to access the files of other users, even when the computer is ‘off’ if the computer itself is connected to the Internet via broadband,”
How is this even possible? Last I heard, a minor thing called electricity was needed to power the hard drive. If the computer is off, no electricity. How then does this work? Unless they know something we don’t…
“To achieve this it must first discredit and then destroy the p2p companies, commercial and free independents both.”
For those in the know, there are other ways of getting stuff online… P2P is just easier and more attractive for the average end-user, instead of, say, IRC.
August 6th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
Please, think of the chiruns! Give me a friggin break.
If p2p companies sit on their hands, they diserve the inevitable outcome.
The most obvious counter to such misinformation and distortion would be a national ad campaign dealing with the bad behavior of the National Association of Attorneys General. Their use of the child porn card is a fig leaf. Alowing the MPAA and RIAA to use them is unforgivable and lets us know who the association is really looking out for.
This is about control. Control of the internet and its exploitation by the MPAA and RIAA. To these parasites the intenet is one big marketing channel and their aim is to gain as much control over this medium as they possibly can to ensure their ability to exploit any who come in contact with them.
The Federal and State government revenue departments are not above preying on internet service providers and users for a revenue stream.
After all they have to think of the chiruns. AFreeMan
August 6th, 2004 at 9:30 pm
August 7th, 2004 at 1:11 am
Thanks. Fixed. Cheers!