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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Wed, May 25th 2005 4:41pm





Homeland Security Protects Us All From BitTorrent Users

from the phew dept

Ever since BitTorrent first became popular, people have pointed out that it's not a good way to share unauthorized material, as it clearly broadcasts everyone's IP address. Still, obviously many users haven't been paying attention. Combine that with the MPAA's hatred of BitTorrent, the BitTorrentable copy of Star Wars that probably stopped no one from actually going to see the movie, and (oh right) the federal agents who are begging to be controlled by the entertainment industry, and is it any surprise at all that the FBI and Homeland Security (?!?) are announcing that they've shut down a BitTorrent-based file sharing system that, among others, had the Star Wars movie? Again, though, BitTorrent is just the protocol. That the announcement focuses on BitTorrent, is like them announcing they had shut down an FTP file sharing network. Of course, where this story may get ever more ridiculous is the suggestion in the AP article that some of the movies being offered may have gone up on the system before they were released. Remember, it was just a month ago that we got a wonderful new law that could throw people in jail if the copyrighted material they share hasn't been released yet. There's no reason to have sympathy for people who were knowingly sharing material they weren't authorized to share. However, doesn't it seem that getting Homeland Security involved and all of this grandstanding is overkill?

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    LordSlakyr, May 26th, 2005 @ 4:54am

    Homeland security - I feel safer

    I totally agree with questioning why Homeland security is involved. Wasn't that the agency that was formed out of the panic of 9/11 to make us all feel safer and (as the name implies) make our homeland more secure?
    All the 9/11 fallout is going to be like the RICO act - used to prosecute a wide variety of cases never originally intended for it.
    On the other hand -- how dumb to distribute Star Wars, which is owned and run by Darth Vader himself...

     

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      bsturner, May 26th, 2005 @ 6:15am

      Re: Homeland security - I feel safer

      When I read that homeland security was involved, it sounded to me like the guys that were supposed to be out catching terrorists were serving warrants on p2p rings. According to the CNN article, it was actually Customs Enforcement that did the job. When they did the realigning of departments post 9/11, that deparment fell under the umbrella of homeland security. Thats no excuse for government making whats essentially a civil matter into a criminal matter, but according to current law, customs is the right agency to enforce this kind of thing.

       

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        jojo, May 27th, 2005 @ 4:37am

        Re: Homeland security - I feel safer

        Yeah. Too bad they can't find enough manpower to enforce the laws against illegal alien workers and the companies that hire them!

         

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