National Security Threat
It turns out the US National Security is under threat - not from Terrorism, Cyber-Warfare or uncontrolled nuclear proliferation - but from File Sharing - not only that but File Sharing threatens our children too
But strangely enough - the report only mentions P2P File Sharing - there is nothing about the inbuilt security threats that are touted by companies such as Microsoft inlcudes in its products which are designed to enhance productivity which have been present in Windows ever since "Windows for Workgroups".
It makes some assertions which are nothing more than propaganda and rhetoric designed to put people off any form of P2P file sharing - even legal ones
because virtually everyone who uses a popular filesharing program appears to use it almost exclusively to download infringing files, a magazine or website seeking to do a meaningful review of filesharing programs would have to assess their relative efficicay as a means of copyright piracy. Perhaps for this reason, filesharing programs have become one of the most widely used, yet least discussed and reviewed computer programs on the market.
Note the weasel words "virtually everyone", "appears to use", and "almost exclusively" - no mention of any of the uses of P2P - no mention of the use of P2P to distribute FOSS software or legal CC MP3 files
Do popular search-and-download programs contain - or have they contained - features that can cause users to share files unintentionally?Do popular Operating Systems contain - or have they contained - features that can cause users to share files unintentionally?
Well - its a long time since there were a large number of NFS and PC-NFS installations attached to the net which had /etc/passwd shared - but it used to happen.
Nobody tried to ban UNIX on the grounds that it was insecure - thank god - and the popularity of programs like SAMBA hasn't diminished because people could "unintentionally" share files.
I could also note that certain implementataions of "private web servers" using HTTPD easily allow "unintentional" file sharing - but that hasn't dented the popularity of "private web servers" in office environments (*shudder*) which, when miscongfigured constitute a major security risk.
This piece of selective misinformation is everything the RIAA and MPAA could hope for - not only is P2P filesharing a threat to society because people copy films and music, it is also a threat to National Security and a threat to our children - who somehow only need protecting when they are not paying for the violent garbage "content" that the MPAA and RIAA make so much money from ...