Posted on: Wednesday, February 28, 2001
Content issues in peer-to-peer file sharing
By Burt Lum
"Technology is not just a value-neutral set of tools — it embodies the norms, perspectives and biases of those who create it. As a global society, we need to better understand the rules and standards built into technical architectures to ensure an approach that respects the rights and freedoms of individual users, as well as businesses, and governments." — Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org)
When Jon Johansen wrote the program DeCSS, it enabled his Linux computer system to descramble and play DVDs. It also potentially enabled the unauthorized distribution of content across the Internet. Much like copying songs via MP3s, potentially an entire distribution chain of DVD hacks could proliferate through P2P (peer-to-peer) networks.
Seeing that as a threat to content protection, the Motion Picture Association of America sought an injunction against Johansen and the sites providing access to this information. In January 2000, authorities in Norway searched Johansen’s home and confiscated his computers. The MPAA initiated legal action against Johansen and several Web sites, including www.2600.com, a popular hacker Web site, for making the DeCSS utility available for download.
The MPAA won the lawsuit, stopping 2600 from distributing the utility and eliminating links to mirror sites that do. Ironically, this did not prevent 2600.com from providing instructions on how to search for the DeCSS program.
The P2P revolution is more than sharing files. On one side, you have content protection and publishers like MPAA. On the other side you have individual users, the EFF and freedom of information. Recent developments in the courts against Napster indicate the courts are siding with the publishers. At risk are the freedoms on which the Internet was built. As P2P grows from its infancy, the judgments we make today will have far-reaching effects for generations to come. ;-)
Burt Lum, cyber-citizen and self-anointed tour guide to the Internet frontier, is one click away at burt@brouhaha.net
[back to top] |
