AfterDawn: Tech news

Limewire chairman asks for ISPs to better enforce copyright

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 26 Jul 2007 3:48 User comments (23)

Limewire chairman asks for ISPs to better enforce copyright On Tuesday, Limewire chairman Mark Groton had to appear in front of the Committee for Oversight and Government Reform to talk about the dangers of P2P and leaks of classified information through file sharing networks.
According to CNet however, he was "was assailed for allegedly harming national security" by Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee who went on to call him "naive" before saying Limewire could be used deliberately by enemies of the country. For his part, Groton promised to help redesign Limewire in an effort to avoid sharing sensitive information.

His prepared statement however, is what truly is news. Groton told the Committee that ISPs should better enforce copyright and take a stronger stance on sharing of unauthorized content. Be reminded this is coming from the chairman of a program, that at its peak, had over 30 million users illegally sharing unauthorized content.

"Internet Service Providers, ISP’s, are a unique point of control for every computer on the Internet. Universities frequently function as their own ISP’s, and a handful of universities have implemented notice based warning systems that result in the disconnection of users engaged in illegal behavior who ignore multiple warnings. These universities have sharply reduced child pornography and copyright infringement on their campus networks. Similar policies could be mandated for all ISP’s in the United States."




Groton even added that lawmakers should pass more laws forcing ISPs to take tougher stances and enforce copyright.

How quickly Mr. Groton has changed his views in the shadow of the government.

Source:
P2P blog

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23 user comments

126.7.2007 16:23

He jsut said universities are hot beds of child pornography.....
copyright infringement=child pornography ZOMG think of the children!

So ISPs start blocking content then the goverment starts block ISPs ZOMG HEIL!!HEIL!!HEIL!!!

226.7.2007 17:10

Originally posted by ZIppyDSM:
He jsut said universities are hot beds of child pornography.....
copyright infringement=child pornography ZOMG think of the children!

So ISPs start blocking content then the goverment starts block ISPs ZOMG HEIL!!HEIL!!HEIL!!!
Exactly. Some of the stuff he is saying screams censorship. Freedom of speach? Whats that?

326.7.2007 19:19

Heh. sounds like Mr. groton got the goverment message, and pissed Himself. Some People dont Get it, whats more intresting is how there going to acomplish this feet. Make sniffer packet programs that check for illiagle content OOPs Tried it, it failed. make root kits that search hardrives cough {MPAA}. there feeling the pressure now huh. Or dear Mister Groton they dismiss the use of p2p altogether as an illiagle use of the internet. it simple folks Mister Groten is now under warnimg from the goverment. to stop all illaigle ativity throu his program limewire. unfourtonetly Mister Groten has not the balls to take blame instead placing the blame on the ISP's. So Miss
Groten plz just trash your crappy trojen infested sad excuse for a p2p client and leave the ISP's alone.

426.7.2007 21:01

Who cares anyway? Limewire is starting to suck b@lls ever since version 4.10. Its network has gotten cr@ppier as well and its at a point where you search for anything and you only get rared viruses and porn instead of what you want.

527.7.2007 00:03

Anyone know any good books or publications on the "P2P Conspiracy"? I'm considering on compiling a book myself on the subject. This article has a lot of good stuff.

Let's break it down a little:

1. We have the US Government spinning the issue of P2P like it's some sort of national security threat. The internet itself is as much threat to national security as P2P is. What Groton should have done was to call bullshit on the US Government and asked why the "national security threat" montra didn't equivically include ISPs, since ISPs play a greater or equal role in "file sharing".

2. As all of you have pointed out, the title of this article alludes to it, and even Mark Groton understands the "real" debate is copyright infringement and greed of big corporations. I'm not a communist, and I believe in compensation for intellectual property. Similarily, I and "the people" demand free content (especially in the form of education). Why can't the government force ISPs to set up a fair royalty structure or the media companies find a way to incorporate additional capitalisms when they provide for purely entertainment-based P2P {with stricter copyright sunsets such as 14 years (which was determined in a study to be the optimal copyright time) than 70 years after the death of the copyright owner}, and "hello" maybe even budget some grants to educational-based P2P such as software and books. (I imagine the government is giving grants to probably everyone media company now in the form of tax write-offs for pirated media.)

3. In the backstabbing game of cut-throat business perfected with and pupeteered by the governement, I think Groton's got the right "idea" by throwing this back on the ISPs. It's not a new idea by any means and any techie nerd could've said this was the solution from the get-go. AT&T and Verizon are a hell of alot bigger than Limewire, LLC and mandating them will be far more difficult until 90% of the country (or world for that matter) is online. Instead or realistically [b]in addition to [/b playing dodgeball what he should've included, however, was the introduction of a new system (perhaps something in section 2) in support of P2P. Implemented correctly, P2P could be the greatest library in the world.

627.7.2007 01:21

FROSTWIRE FOR LIFE

727.7.2007 02:36

This guy has no idea of what he is going on about. What does a poli know about P2P programs. He needs to get a real job.

827.7.2007 05:10

May as well monitor all phone calls,place video cameras in everybodys homes and satellite trackers on vehicles or even every individual.That way we can all live in a safe world.
Hopefuly I'll be dead before that happens!

927.7.2007 06:01
webe123
Inactive

What a HYPOCRITE! This guy is in charge of one of the p2p programs that at it's height was used by 30 million users and NOW he wants to say that it is not HIS FAULT and even goes so far as to blame ISP's?

Boy, I guess I only thought I heard everything....but this takes the cake!

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 27 Jul 2007 @ 6:02

1027.7.2007 09:29

webe123 - Course he is a hypocrit, but that's Washington. Groton's motive is to extend the life of Limewire by playing dodgeball and shifting the blame to the real giants that bring us the internet. Expect more of this kind of defense: Putting the Fortune 500 companies in the hot seat. They have a lot more pull in government and a better legal team.

1127.7.2007 09:32

Madonna is a threat to National Security. We all know that. There's gotta be a grenade or two in those cones!

1227.7.2007 16:53
webe123
Inactive

Originally posted by edsrouter:
webe123 - Course he is a hypocrit, but that's Washington. Groton's motive is to extend the life of Limewire by playing dodgeball and shifting the blame to the real giants that bring us the internet. Expect more of this kind of defense: Putting the Fortune 500 companies in the hot seat. They have a lot more pull in government and a better legal team.

Well I for one hope he fails in his attempt. Because it is NOT just p2p that will be affected.

This will effect the way the entire internet is run if ISP's are held responsible for their users actions. They tried this before and failed, I hope it fails again. ISP's also have high dollar lawyers....so it ain't over yet.

1327.7.2007 21:15

I, for one, personally think, if it weren't for copyright infringement, they wouldn't be much use of a commercial high speed connection anymore. The most useful speed that comes into mind right now is the 768kb line since 56kb is just incredibly slow, but will suffice pretty much everybody's needs.

1428.7.2007 00:29

There's more than one Internet. If your using Emule and an Explorer browser at the same time, your traveling on two Internets at the same time. If ISP's do start snooping, we are just gonna have to get creative in packing ZIPS or RARS.

I think 'Crime'Wire is gonna go down the tubes myself. But it sprouted mushrooms like Frostwire...

1528.7.2007 07:53

I think ISP's would be breaking the law on privacy if they start snooping on peoples information online.If it happens people will choose alternative methods such as packet encyption,proxies,darknets,subnets and difficult to track Tor type net connections.In fact it's probably best to do this anyway if you don't want advertising companies tracking your web activities.
There is nothing criminal about privacy and it should be respected or it will be curtains for freedom.

1628.7.2007 14:58

It's all McDonalds fault! If they didn't serve their coffee so hot we wouldn't have these national security problems.

Makes as much sense as Mark Groton's statement.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 28 Jul 2007 @ 7:22

1728.7.2007 23:56

Originally posted by sailow:
I, for one, personally think, if it weren't for copyright infringement, they wouldn't be much use of a commercial high speed connection anymore. The most useful speed that comes into mind right now is the 768kb line since 56kb is just incredibly slow, but will suffice pretty much everybody's needs.

*
Not with all that graphic goop all over the web, and all those ads! The problem is that many graphics have data in them so screening out pics is problematic.

1829.7.2007 14:21

I think Limewire has had tons of spam since V 4.13. I've used other programs such as Ares which has less spam. Plenty of companies have had revenue due to spamming Limewire as you know in the first place is made via big companies anyway. Ares on the other hand is Freeware and has no pro version. Kazaa was the same way and was spammed. Sorta makes you wonder in the first place as to rather the company itself gave the spammers a way to spam the system. Just look at non big company p2p companies like Ares and others like it. Gnutilla was a suckey network that started when Napster died and went business. Even Fast Track was far better. And don't forget WinMX when it was in full swing. It too had no pro version.

1929.7.2007 14:22

I think Limewire has had tons of spam since V 4.13. I've used other programs such as Ares which has less spam. Plenty of companies have had revenue due to spamming Limewire as you know in the first place is made via big companies anyway. Ares on the other hand is Freeware and has no pro version. Kazaa was the same way and was spammed. Sorta makes you wonder in the first place as to rather the company itself gave the spammers a way to spam the system. Just look at non big company p2p companies like Ares and others like it. Gnutilla was a suckey network that started when Napster died and went business. Even Fast Track was far better. And don't forget WinMX when it was in full swing. It too had no pro version.

2030.7.2007 06:21

edsrouter got this right. The guy is just doing his job. I am surprised they have lasted this long. No one has survived a media Maffia law suit for 6 months. Usually they settle before the court date.

I love the national security thing. That is true but the US mail is much more of a threat because it is much harder to spy on. I am sure NSA is scanning P2P as we speak. Maybe we ought to outlaw speaking! It is even a bigger security risk. The days of P2P have already passed. The media Maffia have done their job well.

2130.7.2007 08:10
webe123
Inactive

Originally posted by Mez:
edsrouter got this right. The guy is just doing his job. I am surprised they have lasted this long. No one has survived a media Maffia law suit for 6 months. Usually they settle before the court date.

I love the national security thing. That is true but the US mail is much more of a threat because it is much harder to spy on. I am sure NSA is scanning P2P as we speak. Maybe we ought to outlaw speaking! It is even a bigger security risk. The days of P2P have already passed. The media Maffia have done their job well.

Yeah riiiiight! If the media mafia have done their job so well....how is it that p2p has INCREASED and not DECREASED?

2230.7.2007 23:46

Quote:
sailow (Newbie) 28 July 2007 1:15
I, for one, personally think, if it weren't for copyright infringement, they wouldn't be much use of a commercial high speed connection anymore. The most useful speed that comes into mind right now is the 768kb line since 56kb is just incredibly slow, but will suffice pretty much everybody's needs.

I agree. Somewhere there is a conspiracy. Remember the afterdawn article on the new technique developed by Intel to speed up p2p 70%? It's a good read. (here)

Here's a fairly recent AP article entitled "Researchers Explore Scrapping the Internet" here. Funny it mentions in this article that if we do scrap our current internet there are many people getting in line to get on the drawing board of the "new" Internet.

And the rebuttle to this article from Techworld... here.

Here's a conspiracy theory for you all to ponder. Big hardware companies are realizing that there machines are being built too massive and fast when the average consumer can get by with a Pentium 4 and chat on the internet with a 56K modem. Remember the afterdawn article on consumer education is key to Blu Ray success? Scale that up a bit and relate it to this: Hardware companies (Intel, AMD, hard drive manufacturers, the whole technology sector) are piggybacking on P2P companies in educating the consumer at the expense of a few comparatively "smaller" fish, the RIAA and the MPAA. To me this is just probably one of the oddest forms of cut-throat capitalism I've ever seen.

2331.7.2007 04:16

webe123, I don't doubt that P2P is still increasing. The article indicated limewire is on the decline. Some of the respondents seemed to concur with this from their own experiances.

The MM is a slow reactive creature. Limewire is old news but that is one of the biggies on their hit list. It will take them a while to identify a new 'enemy' then identify an attack plan.

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