House IP Leader Endorses P2P Blocking

Technical Writing Geek points out an Ars Technica report on comments from Representative Howard Coble (R-NC), who sits on the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. In a recent editorial, Coble attempts to discourage P2P file sharing among young people, and praises Ohio University for its ban on P2P applications last year. Coble also suggests that identity theft is a great danger from file sharing. Public Knowledge is running a similar analysis, which argues against the main points from the editorial.

Comments

Re:theft is theft

[toriver]

How is using bit torrent to obtain data that you would otherwise have to pay for any different from gathering up a thousand people, walking into Best Buy and walking out with all the music and software on the shelves?

Because copying electronic information which leaves the original behind is 100% different from removing a physical object without leaving anything behind. The LAWS recognise this, why cannot the industry?

I am appalled victims of real piracy and theft aren't attacking the entertainment INDUSTRIES (the artists are no longer the people calling the shots) for abusing the terms. And I am waiting for the higly profitable mass-market shovelware corporations to take the next step and say IP infringers are RAPING the artists. I mean, it's another loaded word to abuse.