Politicians Says P2P Nets Harm National Security: Report

By Raju Shanbhag

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

The cute looking P2P program you use to share files, music etc, could be harming the national security, if you believe what politicians in the U.S. say. According to a CNET News report, U.S. politicians think that peer-to-peer networks can pose a "national security threat" because they enable federal employees to share sensitive or classified documents accidentally from their computers.

 

While discussing this topic, Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman reportedly said that he is considering new laws to address the problem. He felt troubled by the possibility of foreign governments, terrorists or organized crime gaining access to documents that reveal national secrets.

 

In this hearing, Mark Gorton, the chairman of Lime Wire, which makes the peer-to-peer software LimeWire, was attacked for allegedly harming national security through offering his product.

 

According to recent studies by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and private researchers., the documents that are in the list of sensitive data are confidential corporate-accounting documents, localized terrorist threat assessments, classified government military orders, as well as personal information such as federal workers' credit card numbers, bank statements, tax returns and medical records.

 

Tom Davis, the committee's ranking member said that the fact that sensitive information is available in peer-to-peer networks shows the importance of strengthening the laws and rules protecting personal information held by federal agencies. Tom Davis has sponsored a bill that would impose new requirements on government agencies that discover security breaches.

 

Although politicians believed that there are benefits to peer-to-peer technology, they felt that if proper restrictions are not imposed, it will compromise national security, intrude on personal privacy and violate copyright law. Both Waxman and Rep. Paul Hodes called P2P networks ongoing national security threats.

 

This is not the first time the members of congress are expressing their concerns about the P2P networks. In the past, they have voiced their concerns with Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. Four years ago, the same committee expressed its concerns about the pornography sharing on P2P networks and also pondered over the leaks of sensitive information. Throughout 2004, the U.S. Congress unsuccessfully tried to introduce many laws that would have restricted or banned many popular file-swapping networks.

 

But this time around, politicians are not seeking to ban the P2P networks altogether. Instead, they are seeking to "achieve a balance that protects sensitive government, personal and corporate information and copyright laws," Waxman was reported as saying.

 

On the other hand, the kind of information leak that is worrying the politicians are most likely already against the law or federal policy. It is illegal for government employees to leak certain types of classified documents without approval, either electronically or through traditional paper means.