P2P Scapegoating

This is ridiculous. "A bill introduced in California's Legislature last week has raised the possibility of jail time for developers of file-swapping software who don't stop trades of copyrighted movies and songs online." Why not...we as Americans have already established a pattern of blaming and going after whoever we can when it comes to losing money. In regards to a manufacturer's culpability for illegal use of their product, however, another standard has already been established.

Do we go after the makers of VCRs because their technology can be used to duplicate protected television programming? How about computer companies who include CD and DVD burners that can be used to dub songs and movies? How long have we been taping things on the radio, making mix tapes, and passing these tapes out to our friends? It's one thing if somebody is, say, running a dub-house, trying to turn a profit on copyrighted material; it's another if we want a friend to listen to music with us.

So, sure, the bill doesn't try to hold the makers of file-swapping software responsible for illegal use of thier product. It rather tries to make them financially responsible for potential losses because they don't apparently prevent it from happenning. Hmmmm. Uh, yeah, there's a clear difference there....

They go so far as to claim that the only use for file-swapping software is to trade copyrighted files illegally, and that's what makes this case different than the others. The fact is, we need file sharing software. As our usage, even reliance, on communcating with each other through various technologies increases, so too should the efficiency with which to do so. This leads to the development of things like recieving email on a cellphone, text messaging, instant messaging, voice and video chat...the point is we pass information on to each other all the time, whether it's your voice, a paragraph, a picture, or a song, and we need to be able to do it efficiently. Swapping copyrighted material is NOT why this software was made.

If people choose to use something as a means to illegal ends, why should the inventor feel the repercussions?