Friday , March 29 2024

Porn Popping on P2P

Congressional reports out today find porn prevalent in P2P networks:

    “We need to alert parents to this problem and learn what they can do about it,” said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), who will chair hearings on the matter this morning. “Seemingly innocent searches for files containing images of popular cartoon characters, singers and actors produce thousands of graphic pornographic images including child pornography.”

    In one test, the GAO used the market-leading Kazaa sharing software to search for titles containing the names “Britney,” “the Olsen twins” (Mary-Kate and Ashley) and “Pokemon.” Of the total number of files that showed up, 56 percent included some form of pornography, with 8 percent involving minors.

    When investigators used search terms specifically designed to yield pornography, 44 percent of results involved minors.

    The reports raise a fresh controversy for these “peer-to-peer” networks, which have grown to attract hundreds of millions of users worldwide since Napster Inc. first burst on the scene in the late 1990s. And the issue is yet another indication of the growing tension computer users face in balancing the wonders of the Internet with its potential dangers. [Washington Post]

These services want to be “content agnostic” and bear no responsibility for what is traded within their networks – will Congress allow that?

About Eric Olsen

Career media professional and serial entrepreneur Eric Olsen flung himself into the paranormal world in 2012, creating the America's Most Haunted brand and co-authoring the award-winning America's Most Haunted book, published by Berkley/Penguin in Sept, 2014. Olsen is co-host of the nationally syndicated broadcast and Internet radio talk show After Hours AM; his entertaining and informative America's Most Haunted website and social media outlets are must-reads: Twitter@amhaunted, Facebook.com/amhaunted, Pinterest America's Most Haunted. Olsen is also guitarist/singer for popular and wildly eclectic Cleveland cover band The Props.

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