US House Of Representatives Passes "informed" P2P Bill

[GhostShip]

In an expected move yesterday a bill was passed that was originally aimed at kazza and limewire but could conceivably be aimed at any current p2p that demands certain protections are put in place to ensure folks are not accidently sharing content without their knowledge (and consent) on p2p networks.

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/87362/house-passes-informed-p2p-user-act/

HR 1319 makes it illegal to cause a person to make files available on their PC without first obtaining their permission and clearly notifying them which files will be made available. The House of Representatives has formally passed the Informed P2P User Act(H.R. 1319) which aims to protect PC users from the inadvertent sharing of sensitive information when using P2P software

Prior to installation the program must:

Provide clear and conspicuous notice that such program allows files on the protected computer to be available for searching and copying by another computer; and Obtain the informed consent to the installation of such program from an owner or authorized user of the protected computer; and
Provide clear and conspicuous notice of which files are to be made available to another computer; and Obtain the informed consent from an owner or authorized user of the protected computer for such files to be made available.

It’s pretty straightforward, but occurs rather late in the file-sharing game. Programs with these types of “shared folders,” like Limewire for example, have already introduced updated versions that do not share files by default.

Violations of the Informed P2P User Act would fall under the purview of the Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices and be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission.

This of course has the possibility to cause problems for potential users of older p2p programs but in the main most folks will merely need to ensure an installer is provided that makes clear that this is a file sharing program and that files shared are open to the internet masses as most sensible folks know anyway, how this bill addresses the stupid user is beyond the scope of any legislation I suggest and if any program shares files without them specifically being included in a specially shared folder then we would all expect the government to act anyway as we call such programs malware.

[Bluey_412]

that bill may go beyond just p2p...
think of malware...
think of Microsoft and validation activities/black-screening, checking for pirated numbers, etc etc...

[Bluey_412]

M$ and a few others might have to rewrite their EULA, if doing so would be considered sufficient to meet the 'clear and conspicuous' and 'informed consent' requirements

[Ace]

its to prevent plp sharing there hole c:\ drive
  as most old p2p do that by deflaut and most newbis have no clue of the dangers of sharing there hole c:\ drive