[ NNSquad ] Re: Net Neutrality vs. Illegal Acts

[Brett Glass <nnsquad@brettglass.com>]

At 09:39 AM 3/21/2008, Lauren Weinstein wrote:
 
>It's one thing to say that a particular instance of Internet use
>is illegal, but quite another to simply assume and treat an entire
>class of applications as illegal, or to inspect content on an 
>a priori basis.  The latter would be similar to listening in on
>*everyone's* phone calls in the hopes of finding those particular
>calls discussing illegal acts.

The difference is that it's actually rare to find P2P traffic that
is NOT illegal. Yes, a person who is carrying a stick of dynamite
onto an airplane might just be transporting it to a construction
site for perfectly legal purposes, but we still search passengers
and interdict such items just the same. And very reasonably so.

--Brett Glass

  [ Back to comparing plane bombers with copies of music and movies, eh?
    OK, as you wish, it's your business, and your reputation.

    But ... with new 100% legal P2P applications being announced
    seemingly every day, and vast new ranges of video applications
    coming online (some of which will be P2P, but bandwidth heavy in
    any case), the "it's illegal so we can do whatever we want to stop
    it" argument is moving from specious to utterly silly.  You're 
    trying to hold back an earthen dam that is about to burst, with
    only your bare hands.

       -- Lauren Weinstein
          NNSquad Moderator ]