Anti-P2P momentum

The entertainment industry's anti-file-sharing effort is gaining support in government. In addition to RIAA lawsuits and colleges' incentives (see "P2P deterrents, incentives" in this week's issue), there is increasing activity on Capitol Hill and in the Justice Department (DOJ). First, there's the INDUCE Act, introduced this summer by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R) of Utah and Patrick Leahy (D) of Vermont. Its passage was thought inprobable just a short time ago, but now the legislation has nine co-sponsors from both parties, Wired News reports, among them "two of Congress' most influential members: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R) of Tennessee and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D) of South Dakota." Then there's the DOJ's summer crackdown on massive distribution of videos, music, and software via peer-to-peer networks, covered in the Washington Post) and many other media outlets. File-sharing was only part of the DOJ's "largest dragnet yet" against "cyber criminals," including "spammers, so-called 'phishers' and other Internet con artists," the Post reports in another article.