U.S. House Committee Passes Informed P2P User Act

Filed in archive Government on September 30, 2009

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The U.S. House Committee on Commerce and Energy has passed the Informed P2P User Act (HR 1319).

"The bill would make it illegal for P2P developers to make software that causes files from a computer to be inadvertently shared over a P2P network without a user's knowledge," writes Computerworld's Jaikumar Vijayan. "It would also require the developers to clearly inform users about files that are being made available for searching and sharing, and would mandate that a user agree to the file-sharing first."

"The bill as passed narrowed the definition of peer-to-peer services subject to the restrictions to those where sharing of personal data -- financial or health records -- was implicated," writes Multichannel News' John Eggerton. "It specifically exempts e-mail, instant messaging, real time audio and video and real-time voice applications, its co-sponsor, Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) said at the hearing marking up the bills."

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