You heard of Napster, Gnutella and Freenet. They are all means millions of teenagers use to exchange music CDs for free. They are keeping recording and media executives awake nights.
And here comes Scour. Scour does what these other technologies do, and in addition, enables the transfer of files NOT OFFERED. It has the ability to locate and transfer files, not only from websites, but from within PCs. And if it can transfer music, it can also transfer other files that are not in a secure area!
This new technology may be used not just for sharing, but for PRIVACY OBLITERATION. It's true that it has been decided not to use Scour. But this sort of program will be available.
We now have a dilemma. On one extreme are the media moguls moaning about piracy and trying to beef up copyright law so that we may buy media packets - books, music, software - but not be able to share them with friends. If you find out from Big Media that war has been declared, you are not supposed to share this information with anyone.
On the other extreme are those who want to use Scour or similar programs to get whatever information they can from anyone who is not protecting it sufficiently.
It seems to me both extremes should be illegal. If the media moguls have their way, the Internet, the idea that people may communicate and share information with each other, will be dead. It will become a forlorn place like TV is today. Free speech will suffer a terrible blow.
If the wild teenagers have their way and they could extract private information from individuals, people will desert the Internet to protect their privacy. Again, the Internet will die of asphyxiation.
We need a solution which draws a line somewhere in the middle between the 2 extremes. On one hand we need copyright law, but we must preserve "fair use" so that people may share information. Sharing is the basis of the entire Internet. We must maintain the ability to share in order to preserve the Internet. On the other hand, we should not allow any type of privacy obliteration.
A good solution for this dilemma is to sell information, music and software as a service. As a paying customer, you get a regular flow, but you may share it with whomever you wish. Regardless of how the service is delivered, no private computer should be accessed on pain of criminal prosecution.
Let's keep the Internet as a vehicle for FREE SPEECH.
