Congress: P2P networks harm national security

ZDNet ^ | July 24, 2007 | Anne Broache

[KarlInOhio]

Hollywood and the record industry want to stop P2P for natioal securi... I can't even finish it because its so silly.

What's next, casinos arguing that banks sending money to offshore gambling websites are a threat to the nation's shipping? Wait, that's why it was already put into a port security law in the last second in 2006.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Politicians charged on Tuesday that peer-to-peer networks can pose a "national security threat" because they enable federal employees to share sensitive or classified documents accidentally from their computers.

Given this kind of mentality, it's a little amazing that the Internet and it's subsequent technologies exist at all in their present form. Maybe we're in a brief Golden Era of information exchange for individuals, a little glimpse of sunlight before all control over information is in the hands of the government and entertainment industry lawyers.

[MCH]

More idiocy. Equivalent to banning guns because “they kill people”, banning cars for the same reason, etc. It’s all in how you use the technology, not the technology itself. How about putting controls & penalties on that, huh? No, that would make too much sense. And besides, it wouldn’t involve politicians enriching themselves by taking special interest money from the same media organizations and industries who’ve tried [unsuccessfully] to go after P2P file-sharing technologies before — now for trumped up “national security” reasons. What a transparent joke.

[longtermmemmory]

anyone from california has no gravitas on this issue.

P2P attacks are just hollyweird puffery.

These are the identical arguments they used against cassette reocorders.

Perhaps they should also ban photocopiers just like the USSR.

[Vinnie]

I guess a hard drive might fit in Sandy’s pants.

Or one of Waxman's nostrils.

[sanchmo]

Here's another national security threat:

And another:

[Vinnie]

Speaking of P2P, is Lime Wire safe? Legal?

[P-40]

Just block P2P access on Government computers and leave the rest of us alone.

You'd almost think that government would have blocked this already. I sometimes forget just how slow the government can be...