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House members take on P2P security and privacy risks

22 April 2009 21:18 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 3 comments

Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa, ranking member of the committee, and Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, sent a letter this week to government officials and to the head of Limewire, expressing their concerns about the potential risk to privacy and security caused by use of P2P networks.

Mark Gorton, chairman of The Lime Group, appeared before the committee almost two years ago. At the time he admitted he was shocked to learn about the sheer amount of confidential and private information that was accidentally (or intentionally) shared using the Limewire software, and vowed to make changes to the software to help prevent accidental sharing of information.

We're not just talking about curriculum vitae word documents or other personal files common to most users, but some notable accidental P2P leaks are blueprints of Marine One, Social Security numbers, tax returns, and private medical records. "It appears that nearly two years after your commitment to make significant changes in the software, LimeWire and other P2P providers have not taken adequate steps to address this critical problem," they wrote to Gorton.

They have demanded information on security measures put into place since the promise was made in 2007 to do, and asked for any data pertaining to other incidents that may not have been reported.

Permalink to this article

LimeWire signs content deals (25 February 2009)

Limewire store adds over 1 million tracks (31 August 2008)

Limewire files motion to have case dismissed (20 July 2008)

Limewire wants to share ad revenue with record labels (14 May 2008)

Limewire Store beta launches (17 March 2008)

Mashboxx founder wants to sue LimeWire (16 January 2008)

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Discuss this article!
Coyote42 (Newbie) 23 April 2009 9:34
Eeep... I'm guessing they haven't done shit, I mean this was a government request and since when did they ever hold to a deadline? Hope they got some fluff data they can distract with or else this could get ugly. [ + quote]
defgod (Newbie) 23 April 2009 15:43
The funniest thing about this is the fact it is all up to the users of the software. Not the content they are sharing. But they can't persecute every person who has shared a file online. They instead go after the proprietors of the software that makes it possible or of the websites. This all started when everything started being put in digital formats. Just to save space. Then everyone started panicking "oh god we have to find ways to protect our so called rights". Even though everything "analog" has been shared for thousands of years. It's just now in digital formats is more accessible by more people in more places. And more whining by more people in more places. [ + quote]
plazma247 (Junior Member) 24 April 2009 10:53
I know share local disk C.... more like dumb ass users got what they deserved. [ + quote]