Aiding the industry that helped him gain worldwide fame, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Tuesday aimed at discouraging online piracy by requiring anyone disseminating movies or music on the Internet to disclose their e-mail address.
California file sharers who trade songs or films without providing an e- mail address will be guilty of a misdemeanor, under the first-in-the-nation measure that could make it easier for law enforcement to track down people who illegally download copyrighted material.
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California file sharers who trade songs or films without providing an e- mail address will be guilty of a misdemeanor, under the first-in-the-nation measure that could make it easier for law enforcement to track down people who illegally download copyrighted material.
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But he has made no secret of his opposition to the online sharing of copyrighted material. Last week he signed an executive order prohibiting state employees from using software designed for file sharing.
Several comments:
1) Does this law imagine that there is such a thing as an anonymous email address. Since one can already get the IP of the file trader, how does getting blippy45678@hotmail.com help track down this person? Perhaps they are hoping that forcing the disclosure of an email address will simply have a psychological effect and curb trading.
2) How are file trading applications defined. If I had more time I would look into this.
3) If software does not have the ability to include email address with searches, does this automatically make the use of all such software illegal in CA? Is it illegal to use such software on private networks, or just the interweb(tm)?
Posted by brad at September 23, 2004 10:50 AM