Peer-to-peer program TrustyFiles released its 2.4 High Performance File Sharing program February 16, calling it the P2P industry's first child porn file reporting solution, fifteen days after a P2P PATROL (Peer-to-Peer Parents and Teens React On Line) meeting for private and law enforcement representatives where TrustyFiles developer RazorPop introduced the new offering.
“With the addition of the child pornography file report, RazorPop continues to lead the fight to protect our children,” said RazorPop founder/chief executive and TrustyFiles developer Marc Freedman, announcing the new TrustyFiles version. "We do not tolerate child pornography users or their illegal material, and we work closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations to combat this scourge.”
The P2P PATROL session in question also covered new forensics software, watermarking, and other technological advances aimed at supporting law enforcement. RazorPop said one critical conclusion drawn from that meeting was that P2P usage isn't as anonymous as users think—Internet Protocol addresses can be traced by authorities when need be, while P2P developers are becoming more committed to working with law enforcement by numerous means to track and apprehend child porn traffickers without abrogating civil liberties concerns.
"I had read various government reports and articles about the amount of child pornography distributed via P2P," said Adult Sites Against Child Pornography executive director Joan Irvine when learning about the new TrustyFiles 2.4. "Then last summer I learned that the P2P industry had established P2P PATROL because of the efforts Marty Lafferty (chief executive of the Distributed Computing Industry Association). I contacted Marty to congratulate him on his efforts to combat CP. The more industries that support this battle, the more successful we will be in our mission."
The timing of TrustyFiles 2.4 couldn't have been more fortuitous—the Kids First Coalition, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the National Fraternal Order of Police joined an amicus curae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of MGM v. Grokster, which the high court will begin hearing in March, in which the three argue that law enforcement's ability to spot and prosecute child porn traffickers who use P2P is a crucial issue in the case.
"While the case is predominantly about copyright law, we believe that it is critically important for another reason — fighting the battle against child pornography," wrote Kids First Coalition president Penny Nance, NCMEC chief executive Ernie Allen, and NFOP president Chuck Canterbury, explaining on National Review's Website why they joined the brief.
Repeating charges previous lodged by lawmakers and other advocates that P2P networks are "emerging as a major conduit for the distribution of child pornography," Nance, Allen, and Canterbury zapped the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for "bless(ing) this irresponsible strategy" of Grokster and Morpheus not wanting to know more about what passes through their P2P networks.
The 9th Circuit Court had upheld a lower court ruling that held Grokster and Morpheus were not directly responsible for what users pass through their networks—alluding strictly to copyright issues—because they don't keep material on their own servers. The two P2P networks had been sued for infringement by MGM.
"Grokster and StreamCast disabled mechanisms to monitor and control activity on their networks," wrote Nance, Allen, and Canterbury. "They deliberately want to know less, not more, about the material they help traffic. By engaging in this head-in-the-sand behavior, the companies have reaped millions in advertising revenues by continuing to facilitate copyright violations and the spread of illegal material."
The 9th Circuit Court, by upholding the original ruling in favor of Grokster and Morpheus, endorsed an "evasive strategy" with "implications far beyond copyright law," Nance, Allen, and Canterbury added. "If allowed to stand, the Ninth Circuit's ruling would encourage P2P companies to deliberately avoid knowledge of or control over any illegal conduct on their networks, whether it be copyright infringement or the trafficking in images of sexual assaults of children."
Amicus briefs supporting Grokster and Morpheus—including from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represents Morpheus parent StreamCast in the case—are expected to be filed March 1.
