FC: StreamCast replies to peer-to-peer hacking bill: "Nonsensical!"

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
ellen () streamcast ws
650.678.4629
StreamCast Networks CEO’s Statement on the Introduction of Legislation that 
Invites Vigilante Hackers
Hollywood Congressman Embraces Copyright Owners as Long Arm of the Law
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Franklin, TN., July 25, 2002 -- StreamCast Networks, provider of digital 
communications solutions and products such as Morpheus™, today released a 
statement by CEO Steve Griffin in opposition to legislation by Congressmen 
Howard L. Berman, (D-CA) and Howard Coble (R-NC) that will permit copyright 
holders to hack into peer-to-peer networks and directly attack consumers’ 
computers.
Congressman Berman's bill creates immunity for groups like the Motion 
Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry 
Association of America (RIAA) to shield its members from criminal and civil 
liability for actions taken to “disable, interfere with, block, divert, or 
otherwise impair” any infringing data on another computer, as long as they 
have a “reasonable basis”, to believe that copyright infringement has 
occurred. Copyright owners will only need to give notice to the Justice 
Department of the “specific technologies the copyright owner intends to 
use”. However, the bill does not permit these technologies to be disclosed 
to the very persons they will attack, the public.
******

 “Today, cyber warfare was declared by the Hollywood Congressman, which 
many predict will effectively shut down peer-to-peer (P2P) networking by 
allowing copyright owners to employ what Congressman Berman previously 
referred to as 
‘technological self-help measures’ such as interdiction, 
redirection, decoys, spoofing and file-blocking.  It not only gives 
copyright owners a 
‘safe harbor’ from current state and federal laws, but 
also essentially makes copyright owners the proverbial 
‘long arm of the 
law’ to self-enforce rules set by the government without meaningful remedy 
for abuse of the rights requested in the legislation. There have been media 
reports that record labels have already launched an aggressive assault on 
file-sharing networks by flooding on-line swapping services with spoofed 
(a.k.a. decoy) files such as bogus copies of popular songs. The companies 
which are believed to have created this new generation of self-help 
technological measures refuse to talk about their clients and Hollywood 
refuses to disclose the specific tools they wish to employ. Yet, it appears 
that Hollywood recognizes that such tactics may run afoul of state and 
federal laws, leading to Congressman Berman introducing legislation that 
could legalize their illegal actions.

The attitude of consumers toward on-line entertainment and the sharing of 
information is clear. They want available commercial content, they want to 
create content to share and they want a broadband connection. The reason 
that I am so passionate about the technology platform of peer-to-peer (P2P) 
is that this 
‘New Internet’ is capable of world-wide societal change. In 
this new world consumers are not merely receivers of information, they are 
also senders.

There is little debate that consumers around the world represent an 
incredible opportunity to release creative expression. Decentralized P2P 
offers the most cost effective and efficient distribution that exists 
today. By leveraging millions of consumers’ computers and their distributed 
bandwidth, enormous cost of goods savings can be realized. When consumers 
launch the Morpheus P2P software, they join and help create a 
self-organizing, self-sustaining network of users around the world. The 
more users that join the network and share content, the richer the 
experience is for everyone.

A true P2P software product, like Morpheus, allows consumers to connect 
directly with each other and to exchange any type of 
information  anything  recipes, family photographs, a poem from a budding 
poet, commentary on public issues, anything.  Once consumers have 
downloaded the Morpheus software they choose what electronic information 
that they want to make available to people around the world.   In short, 
Morpheus allows consumers to directly connect to each other like the 
Internet was intended to be.  In fact, many call decentralized P2P “the New 
Internet”. It is a new gateway or alternative to the World Wide Web.  We 
are passionate about incorporating different tools that empower consumers 
to communicate and exchange information while protecting the creators’ 
content.

At StreamCast we believe that P2P is an important technology that not only 
can lead to important societal changes but itself reflects important 
societal changes that have already taken place. Individuals - on their own, 
unaided by the communications giants - are finding their own new ways of 
connecting, of communicating, and of creating and controlling their own 
communication channels.  Their will - connected and empowered - is 
prevailing now and Congress should not overlook them.

StreamCast Networks continues to urge and foster communication with the 
four stakeholders in this issue - content holders, content creators, 
technology companies and most importantly consumers - to come together and 
find a solution that brings to bear the interests of all parties.  Rather 
than adopt a nonsensical law as proposed by the Hollywood Congressman, 
Congress should instead facilitate a dialogue among the stakeholders in an 
effort to create a reasonable, workable solution to this very important issue.


We encourage individuals to write (http://www.house.gov/writerep/) their 
Member of Congress and express their concern about the yet to be named 
Berman legislation, as it is anti-consumer and anti-innovation and invites 
unchecked hacking into and impairment of peer-to-peer networks.”
******

About StreamCast Networks, Inc.
StreamCast Networks, Inc., creators of the Morpheus software product, is a 
digital communications solutions provider that is revolutionizing Internet 
digital media distribution and communications via a unique software-driven 
solution that enables users to communicate directly with one another more 
efficiently on an unprecedented scale. StreamCast Networks is backed by 
Timberline Venture Partners, the independently managed Northwest affiliate 
of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, as well as angel investors. StreamCast 
Networks, Inc. operates the MusicCity.com website, which distributes the 
Morpheus software product. StreamCast Networks is based in Franklin, TN 
with offices in Phoenix, AZ. For more information about StreamCast and its 
flagship product Morpheus, please visit www.streamcastnetworks.com.




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