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US Government Office Gives P2P Shot of Legitimacy
SlyckTom writes "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."
You should also note that they did not come out and support piracy, only the usefulness of P2P as an application, similiar to other mediums such as USENET or the web. I still say that pirates support terrorism and should be shipped off to Gitmo.
Poor erotica! I'll bet they were scarred for life by having to see those horrible kids.
I find it incredible that the legitimacy of file sharing networks is called into question - even by non-technical people. Isn't there a slight clue in the name - "file sharing". How can file sharing in itself be called bad? Isn't the WWW a file sharing network? This is a true triumph of propaganda over common sense.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
This adds significant legitimacy to P2P, and holds law enforcement officials responsible for bad things that are shared, rather than blaming the technology.
Someone over there in the GAO has their head screwed on right.
AP Newswire 10/31/03 12:02pm: Three GAO board members were found dead in an Iraqi underground safehouse. One army medic commented the Government Accounting Office members, where apparently shot point blank with a Smith and Wesson. He promptly "applied for shore leave" and was unreachable. The pentegon declined to comment on this "senseless terrorist tragity." Saying the deaths were probably the result of secondhand fire durring raid on the safehouse. Nobody speculated on how the men got to Iraq becuse that would be hard to think about.
Novel theory: Modern Man evolved from psychopath
I love that sig...
The GAO declares electricity "a useful invention" with "several notable health risks" but notes they are "well understood and easily addressed" through public safety campaigns.
The GAO also suggests that "someday, electricity may even be used to light every home" and the gas-light industry "may need to address future market changes".
Senator Orin Hatch, whose home has recently been retrofitted with brand new gas lighting courtesy of the gas-light industry lobby, was questioning the GAO about recent gas-light industry claims that electricity can cause cancer in human beings who come within 50 feet of a live wire, and can only be used to power bulbs that give off unpleasant eerie blue light, rather than gentle, warm light.
"File sharing" -the term, at least- has been corrupted by misuse. If we go by the strict definition of the term, then of course there is nothing wrong with it.
The problem is that many pirates have misappropriated the term, using it as a euphemism for piracy. This wouldn't be so bad, except that RIAA/MPAA/whoever has caught wind of this, and is capitalizing on it by trying to convince people that this is the actual definition of the term. Essentially, the idiot pirates have allowed RIAA to make a plausible-sounding claim that p2p networks are only used for piracy, because the pirates themselves use this term.