Senators ask P2P questions-get surprising answers from GAO

November 27, 2003

Savannah used our news submit to tell us that chairman and songwriter Sen. Orrin Hatch, along with the Senate Judiciary Committee, penned a letter to the Government Accounting Office or GAO. The GAO would be responsible for providing the "tools" the United States Congress needs to research and investigate potential legislative topics. Sen. Hatch in particular, as a content provider himself, may have been disappointed when he read the results of this query.

On September 9, 2003, the GAO testified before the before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Their testimony centered on the proliferation and exposure of various types of detestable erotica to children. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator Orrin G. Hatch, sent a follow-up letter to the GAO with several questions regarding the legitimacy of file-sharing networks. On November 14, 2003, the GOA responded with a surprisingly pro-P2P stance.In the letter, Senator Orrin Hatch requested examples or data that demonstrated positive uses of P2P technology. The GAO provided several positive uses, 1) File-sharing, 2) Instant Messaging, 3) Distributed computing and 4) Collaboration applications, with examples for each. Interestingly, the GAO cited Kazaa and Napster, albeit only for its mere existence, as a positive use for file-sharing.

The letter from the GAO also addresses Senator Hatch"s concerns regarding the ability network administrators have to track individuals who use their software. Although this answer is obvious to many in the P2P community, the GAO informed the senator that it is dependant on the network architecture, i.e. Centralized vs. Decentralized. The latter of course, remains much more difficult to track or to filter out copyrighted material.The GAO also addresses the availability, anonymity, and preventability of child pornography on P2P networks. Again, the GAO cites that this is not particularly the fault of P2P networks, and that law enforcement needs to take similar steps as it has against Usenet, IRC and the World Wide Web.

Adam Eisgrau, Executive Director of P2P United, was pleased to say the least.

"We are looking forward to meeting with Sen. Graham and the other signators of his letter to correct what are clearly sincere but serious misconceptions about our technology and our industry, as the General Accounting Office has just made crystal clear. We are a forward-looking industry and remain optimistic that -- by countering the entertainment industries' fictions with actual fact - legislation that could disable the economic engine of technological innovation can be avoided or appropriately tailored. The effectiveness of the industries' 'Fear & Smear' campaign is about to come to an end."

The letter is of great interest as we can now predict the strategy of legal enforcement for the future. It will not be the responsibility of the P2P networks. Rather, it will be a responsibility of law enforcement.

Source: Slyck