Seven firms in the United States offering peer-to-peer file sharing software have been warned by the attorneys general of 45 states that they face possible legal action if they do not warn their customers of the potential consequences of illegal file sharing.
In a letter sent on Thursday to the firms behind the Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster, Bear Share, Blubster, MetaMachine and Lime Wire services, the AGs asked the companies to inform their users of the risks inherent in P2P file sharing, citing examples such as copyright infringement lawsuits, identity theft, and unwitting exposure to viruses and pornography.
Additionally, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report, the attorneys general urged the firms not to add privacy-enhancing features such as encryption to their products, arguing that:
"Encryption only reinforces the perception that P2P technology is being used primarily for illegal ends. Accordingly, we would ask you to refrain from making design changes to your software that prevent law enforcement in our states from investigating and enforcing the law."
The letter does not provide any detail regarding the type of legal action being threatened if the firms do not comply, and some observers are doubtful that the state authorities are actually in a position to be able to bring cases at all in this matter.
Speaking to Dow Jones on Thursday, senior IP attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed that states can only enforce copyright violations in relation to sound recordings made before 1972, and observed that:
"I'm not aware of any state law that file-sharing violates. This letter is clearly an exercise of political clout on the part of the entertainment industry."
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