On June 23, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Competition, Foreign Commerce, and Infrastructure held a hearing on peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, which allows users to share files with other users on the network. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection examined this issue on May 6 (see The Source, 5/7/04).
In his opening remarks, Chair Gordon Smith (R-OR) stated, “There is no question that the Internet has revolutionized many aspects of our lives much of it in very beneficial ways, but some of it in a manner that raises new concerns. Today’s hearing will focus specifically on how one byproduct of the Internet revolution peer-to-peer software is being used now, and may be used in the future, not only in ways that benefit Internet uses but also in ways that harm both consumers and providers of valuable digital content like films and music.”
Addressing committee members’ concerns that P2P file-sharing technology allows children to be exposed to pornographic material, Howard Beales of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) explained that the FTC “has engaged in educational efforts to inform consumers…about the various possible risks from downloading and using P2P file-sharing software.” He explained that many of the “risks associated with P2P file-sharing seem to result largely from the actions of individual users, rather than from the operation of P2P file-sharing software itself. Although the Commission has required warnings with respect to inherently dangerous products in appropriate cases, we are not aware of any basis under the FTC Act for distinguishing P2P from other neutral consumer technologies,” such as e-mail and search engines. Mr. Beales said that because “risk information may be useful to consumers, the Commission believes that it would be beneficial for distributors to make this information more accessible. The Commission staff therefore is providing the ten largest distributors of P2P file-sharing programs with a copy of the FTC’s guidance document addressing how to disclose information in an online context. The staff will also inform distributors that they may incorporate in their Web sites a prominent link sending consumers to the FTC’s online brochure for more information about the risks associated with file-sharing software.”
The committee also heard testimony from Michael Weiss of StreamCast Networks, which distributes the P2P file-sharing software “Morpheus.” Explaining that no decentralized P2P software program “is capable of filtering content of any kind,” Mr. Weiss outlined the steps taken by StreamCast to educate and protect its users: 1) Morpheus includes a series of parental control functions, including a password to protect use of the software; 2) Morpheus enables parents to construct “key word” filters that reside locally on the computer; and 3) The Morpheus home page includes a prominent link to the P2P United Parent to Parent Resource Center where users can report suspected child pornographers to law enforcement. Referring to testimony given before a House subcommittee last month, Mr. Weiss said that Deputy Attorney General John Malcolm “made it abundantly clear that, particularly with respect to child pornography, the ‘most troublesome’ sources of exposure to child pornography remain by far commercial websites accessed through ordinary web browsers, like Microsoft Explorer and AOL’s Netscape Navigator.” He also noted that an April General Accounting Office report “confirms its findings from the previous November: reported incidents of exposure to child pornography through peer-to-peer software are literally dwarfed by incidents involving web surfing and e-mail.”
