RIAA: Child porn rife on P2P networks

The Recording Industry Association of America appears to be expanding its fight against online piracy by encouraging a legislative crackdown on peer-to-peer networks, warning they are infested with child pornography.

On Tuesday, one day after filing the landmark series of lawsuits, RIAA President Cary Sherman cautioned the U.S. Senate that Kazaa could be a tool for adults to lure children into having sex. A pedophile could send "an instant message to the unwitting young person who downloads an Olsen twins or Pokemon file from the pedophile's share folder on Kazaa," Sherman said.

A government report released in March, Sherman said, concluded that "a significant percentage of the files available to these 13 million new users per month are pornography, including child pornography."

Sherman's remarks to the Senate Judiciary committee, which held a hearing devoted to pornography on peer-to-peer networks, were buttressed by similar testimony from a top official in the U.S. Department of Justice's criminal division.

John Malcom, a deputy assistant attorney general, said that "P2P networks are of significant law enforcement concern and focus, particularly because of their decentralized design and relative accessibility and ease of use...(The FBI) is currently considering a protocol for investigating child pornography cases in the relatively new area of P2P technology."

But Malcolm acknowledged that the Justice Department is even more focused on child pornography on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) networks, which can be more fluid and secretive than P2P networks. "Using IRCs, a child pornographer can increase the size and diversity of his collection, which collectors of child pornography characteristically and compulsively seek to do," Malcolm said. "By contrast, offering files on P2P does not automatically result in receiving files in return."

Operators of P2P networks angrily dismissed charges of rampant child porn swapping as an attempt by the major record labels to smear a useful and popular technology.

Alan Morris, executive vice president of Sharman Networks, which distributes the Kazaa software, claimed the RIAA was on a "deliberate campaign to try to smear P2P technology itself" after it lost a key legal battle in April when a federal judge in Los Angeles rejected a request to shut down P2P networks.

"We are dedicated to the eradication of child pornography from P2P networks and will continue to cooperate with Congress, law enforcement agencies and dedicated nongovernmental agencies in support of that shared goal," Morris said.

This isn't the first time that Congress has targeted P2P pornography. During a House of Representatives hearing in March, politicians said new laws aimed at restricting pornography on P2P networks might be necessary. Also on Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., held a press conference to urge a federal crackdown on P2P child pornography.

The subtext of Tuesday's hearing was the ongoing controversy over the RIAA's attempts to sue individual P2P users--and, especially, the legal mechanisms the trade association used to obtain alleged infringer's names under an unusual subpoena process authorized by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Verizon Communications' general counsel complained that the subpoenas would be abused by "parties far less responsible than the recording or movie industries," while the RIAA's Sherman said that Congress had crafted "a fair and balanced procedure" when voting for the DMCA in 1998.

Verizon sought to defend itself against a pair of DMCA subpoenas filed by the RIAA and was trounced in a strongly worded opinion written by a federal judge. It has turned over its subscribers' names but appealed the decision in a second attempt to persuade the courts that the DMCA is problematic.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary committee, acknowledged that the RIAA's use of the subpoenas raised "legitimate concerns for some," but did not go so far as to say that he wanted to rewrite the law. "These problems are best solved by the groups most closely involved," Leahy said.

[TedInAK]

Child porn should be illegal?

Of course it should. But should we make the highways of our cities and states be illegal, because someone could conceivably drive on them with indecent material in their cars?

The internet is the same! Bust the people who distribute illegal smut. Bust the drug kingpins who drive our interstates delivering illegal drugs.

But don't close down the highways because, as the RIAA and Hollywood say in regards to P2P and the Internet in general, they are conduits for illegal behaviour. Of course they are! As are many pharmacies conduits for illegal drug distribution (rogue pharmacists selling narcotics), some sneaky pizza parlors (even 1 Burger King that I read about) selling drugs from their delivery drivers or drive-up windows? Should fast-food be outlawed because fast-food restaurants can conceivably (or even provable in the court of law) be conduits for illicit or illegal goods? You can't ban technology because of what it might do, otherwise you risk banning the original printing press (built around the 14 or 15th century) for being able to make copies of pictures of women with dresses that rested above their ankles!

You can't ban the basic technology any more than you can a thought or idea. You can only ban the infringement.

[blackmoonwolfpup]

Leagal or Illegal

People say that child porn should be illegal. I dont think so. I was the victim of molestation for thirteen years. In my opinion someone who is under the age of twelve should not be photographed. But if the child is fourteen or fifteen I am sorry but they know what is going on. If they consent to it then it should be allowed to be posted on the internet. So yes I agree with it being illegal to a point.

[blackmoonwolfpup]

Leagal or Illegal

People say that child porn should be illegal. I dont think so. I was the victim of molestation for thirteen years. In my opinion someone who is under the age of twelve should not be photographed. But if the chile is fourteen or fifteen I am sorry but they know what is going on. If they consent to it then it should be allowed to be posted on the internet. So yes I agree with it being illegal to a point.

[CURB_STOMP_CP]

I disagree, child porn should be illegal for the teen crowd too. I apologize for what happened to you in the past. The legal drinking age should be raised too. Kids, even some adults have various reasons that should not allow this. Mental status is one of these things for adults, an adult can get drunk and act a fool and get into deep trouble. On the Flip-side young teens do no contain the moral scruples/capacity/or common since to understand the repercussions of these acts. Again, I am very regretful for what happened to you and I hope you recover completely from your issue.