[Quick1]

How about BitTorrent, then? The creator of that intented that his program be used to distribute large files very quickly, and it has been used like that. RedHat distributed it's latest edition over BitTorrent, and got copies of it's program out to users much faster than when everyone had to download from FTP sites. Other sites have borrowed from the BT concept, because it helps save bandwidth, as well as get files out faster.

However, BT is also being used to distribute copyrighted games, movies, music, and more. Should Bram Cohen be sued because he created a protocol that is being used illegally?

[rwfromkansas]

surprised there has not been a retirement announcement yet...

[SOSCEO]

However, BT is also being used to distribute copyrighted games, movies, music, and more. Should Bram Cohen be sued because he created a protocol that is being used illegally?

I am familiar with BitTorrent and it was not created for an illegal purpose, nor was FTP, HTTP, SMTP, POP3, etc. I don't believe that any product that uses a P2P protocol variation should be automatically sued either. BUT, if you go out of your way to create and promote a product to for the explicit purpose of doing something illegal, then you should not be able to hide behind the 'it is the end users problem' excuse.