Is It Ok To Hack? US Reps Hold P2P PowWow

[JackSpratts]

Mike Snider USA TODAY

If a record label hacks into your computer to disable some MP3 music files, have you been ''hacked''?

That depends on your definition of hacking.

What constitutes hacking is expected to be among the hot issues today during a House Judiciary
subcommittee hearing on the Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act, a potential new weapon to protect intellectual property in the age of rampant Net trading.

The bill, which some say would give the record industry the right to hack into individuals' PCs in search of copyright violations, is perhaps the most radical of a number of proposals in Congress to ease the entertainment industry's alarm over file-sharing. Few expect this bill or others to pass in the current session, expected to end mid-October. But by starting debate now, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., who introduced the bill in late July, hopes for a vote next year.

''There is no question that the vast majority of (peer-to-peer) downloads constitute copyright infringement for which the works' creators and owners receive no compensation,'' Berman says.

But consumer advocates have targeted the bill, saying that it lets copyright holders hack into the PCs of private citizens. Berman says his bill ''in no way allows a copyright owner to hack into anyone's computer. . . . (They) are only allowed to enter or look into a P2P user's computer to the same extent that any other (peer-to-peer) user is able to do so.''

Peer-to-peer networks arose in Napster ( news - web sites)'s wake. In August, more than 2 million users, on average, were logged onto top file-sharing network Kazaa, compared with 1.57 million on Napster at its peak in February 2001, says analyst Matt Bailey of Redshift Research.

Unlike Napster, P2P networks do not host files on a central server, instead listing those files available on individual PCs and connecting those computers directly.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...atoday/4483264

- js.

[daddydirt]

that's my very own congressman, Howard Coble.... co-sponsor of the bill and chairman of the subcommittee.
link
"Coble's chief of staff, Ed McDonald, told Wired News that Coble and the subcommittee plan to hold hearings this fall with both proponents and critics of the Berman bill......... but News & Record columnist Cone also said McDonald recently told him that the congressman "wouldn't even know how to turn on the computer" -- a typical statement that exacerbates the feeling among digital rights advocates that Hollywood studios are dictating technology legislation to politicians who don't understand what they're dealing with."

[SA_Dave]

Unlike Napster, P2P networks do not host files on a central server, instead listing those files available on individual PCs and connecting those computers directly.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...atoday/4483264

- js.

Don't you hate it when they get it wrong? Every mainstream article you've posted recently is riddled with inaccuracies. Not that I hold that against you personally Jack!

And I'm not very surprised at that piece of news daddydirt! Sometimes I wonder how politicians manage to cash the cheques that are sent to them in the mail by nameless recipients, let's call them "bribers." What with all the speeches brimming with empty promises, kissing all those babies & the elderly, juggling home and "office" life and all that bureaucracy and corruption, how can they be expected to keep up with technology?

[JackSpratts]

Originally posted by SA_Dave

Don't you hate it when they get it wrong?

you have no idea...

Originally posted by SA_Dave
Not that I hold that against you personally Jack!

phew.

- js.