Re: DMCA

[Tim Doty <tdoty () MST EDU>]

On Tue, 2011-11-29 at 10:24 -0500, randy marchany wrote:
> There are a number of legitimate reasons for allowing P2P traffic
> assuming your net has the bandwidth to support it.

well, and the routing/number of connections load...

> 3. There is NO DMCA related reason to prohibit P2P for transmitting
> music/movie files where copyright permission has been granted. This is
> my whole complaint with the HEOA and the wholesale banning of P2P. The
> issue is whether the files being transmitted via P2P are permitted
> under copyright. 

In point of fact one of the very few times I have used bit torrent was
to download a movie whose creator was distributing it solely through
p2p.

However, these cases are definitely the exception*. And, IMO
importantly, p2p is a *slower* and *less efficient* means of
transferring files. World of Warcraft provides a seamless http
alternative (that is, however, throttled down to sub-dialup speeds). For
linux distros I have always advocated using http rather than bit torrent
(we have I2 which is *much* faster than our I1 connection).

P2P benefits the distributor by allowing them to offload network
bandwidth on the downloaders (at the expense of an overall greater load,
but, hey, that isn't *their* problem). Downloading with P2P is only
faster when you have a lot of sources and asymmetric speeds (swarming)
at the expense of enough connections to kill low-end routers.

Yes, I pretty much dislike P2P for file sharing. Not for DMCA/copyright
reasons, but due to it being inefficient and increasing loads.

* Although they may be the exception, and I dislike P2P file sharing, I
am of the view that the user shouldn't have to justify "an exception to
policy". Doing so presumes guilt -- I'd say that most drivers exceed the
speed limit but that doesn't justify giving everyone speeding tickets
and making them prove their innocence. If you don't like the analogy
then apply any of the other many examples where guilt is not presumed
even if the behavior is common.

Which is one of the reasons why even though we block P2P file sharing
protocols by default we have an automated exception process that is
actively used by students.

Tim Doty