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Senator: Let's Spend $1B to monitor P2P for illegal files

news.com — A prominent Senate Democrat on Wednesday said federal and local police should use custom software to monitor peer-to-peer networks for illegal activity, and wants to spend $1 billion in tax dollars to make that happen.

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  • anderzole, on 04/17/2008, -8/+388what a moron.
    • mobilehavoc, on 04/17/2008, -3/+42Who was elected into office by even bigger morons
      • NightVortez, on 04/17/2008, -2/+12Also known as "the people"............
        • Kennerk, on 04/17/2008, -1/+15dont forget the delaware part, thats the difference between us and them
        • LeeSoong, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4People don't elect officials - Black Box Voting computer systems do.
      • Ryosen, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Just one more reason to nuke Delaware off of the map...
    • jbenson2, on 04/17/2008, -32/+20Goes without saying - he is a democrat.
      • radiatednoodle, on 04/17/2008, -2/+34Goes without saying - he is a politician.
        • PopcornDave, on 04/17/2008, -1/+7No kidding. Doesn't he have a bridge to nowhere to build somewhere?
          In all seriousness, wouldn't $1b be better spent on either renewable energy research or helping to feed the poor in this country? For Christ's sakes Biden, wake the ***** up!
          • LeeSoong, on 04/18/2008, -0/+5Will someone please tell the parasites that earn a living off of other peoples musical talent to STOP trying to make the government, citizens, and other corporations pay for their copyright protection expenses?

            Every time they bother the government with such inane ideas - they should be billed $ 1,000,000 per minute until they stop bothering the government to take taxpayers earnings to spend on chasing fairies and snipe hunts in la-la land.
      • jbenson2, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1But he does have good looking teeth.
    • mytibt, on 04/17/2008, -24/+3Although you might not agree with him on this topic, his views actually make alot of sense. I'm a big Biden fan, this issue withstanding
      • Pstall, on 04/17/2008, -6/+11Biden voting record.

        Voted NO on declaring English as the official language of the US government. (Jun 2007)
        Voted NO on banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers for gun violence. (Mar 2004)
        National ban on smoking would reduce chronic illnesses. (Sep 2007)
        Voted NO on $40B in reduced federal overall spending. (Dec 2005)
        • Pstall, on 04/17/2008, -5/+5Haha getting dugg down for posting a voting record. Digg at its best. A 5 year old girl plugging her ears and going lalalaalalala when she doesn't want to hear the truth.
        • LeeSoong, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2Holding gun manufacturers accountable for making products that kill people is a very logical idea,
          make civilian weapons that do not kill. You couldn't sell a car that kills people every time someone uses it, so treat firearms manufacturers just like automotive manufacturers.
          It's only fair.

          Putting tobacco right in there with banning pot is a great idea, the time has come to end the nations dependencies on drugs. Ban Beer, Wine, and other forms of Alcohol too. Clean it up, USA!

          'Can't Stop the Signal.'
    • RadiatedAnt, on 04/17/2008, -12/+5We don't need 2 George Bush's
      • mytibt, on 04/17/2008, -2/+6Do you actually follow politics or propaganda? How is Biden like George Bush?
        • RadiatedAnt, on 04/17/2008, -9/+3Have you been living in a cave? Uninstall digg now!
        • Dustmuffins, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Oh, that reminds me, I need to update my Digg installation...
      • Rhendal, on 04/18/2008, -0/+6We already have two George Bush's...
    • IamJustinM, on 04/17/2008, -6/+21WTH? Did you guys even bother to read the article?
      --
      "Blaming this problem on peer-to-peer innovation is like blaming the interstate highway system when someone uses it to transport drugs," he said.
      But in 2008 alone, investigators using Fairplay have "seen" more than 1,400 IP addresses tied to swapping child pornography files on at least 100 different occasions.
      ---
      • Skooma714, on 04/18/2008, -3/+3Omg child porn whatever will we dooooooo!?
      • javaroast, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4For clarity it wasn't Biden that said that. It was Flint Waters of the FBI
      • Scheissen, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Is that all? With all the fear mongering I thought it would be in the hundreds of thousands. Go back to actually finding the paedos and stopping the children being harmed rather than focus on people who have seen a baby's penis.
      • retawd, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4I just don't buy the kiddie porn angle anymore. Anytime some group wants to do something kooky to stop stuff they don't like on the Interwebz they pull out some random kiddie porn numbers. I call BS. I'm not saying that pedos don't exist, I'm saying that they are being associated with p2p dishonestly.
        "BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!?!?!?!?"
    • sporg, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4This Fairplay program records the IP address of peers who connect to it and they act like its some kind of high tech achievement. Most torrent programs display the IP addresses of the people sharing with you. Basically they are going to pay someone large sums of money to browse for and download child porn and then print their log file. Once they have this indisputable evidence which couldn't possibly contain errors (sarcasm) they will a get subpoenas to collect the Identity of thousands of people from a judge who is in their pocket.
      FTA: "You can't just go peruse everybody's computer," he said. "You train the officers in what is legal and established and approved and how to get warrants when they need a warrant?"
      Waters said he "didn't know of any cases where (requests for warrants) had been overturned."





      • robbiemuffin, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1I think you underestimate the power and sophistication of a multi-billion dollar per year law enforcement industry. This is just 1 billion dollars for this one program.
        • sporg, on 04/18/2008, -1/+4I think you over estimate the efficiency and accuracy of bureaucracy, son.
          • robbiemuffin, on 04/19/2008, -0/+1If you think writing a program that gets the IP address of where it is SENDING packets is the best we can do in america ... it's probably best you become a monk and stop using the internet all-together.
      • HonoredMule, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2The article clearly identified IP addresses as LOCATIONS and starting points for investigation. Most of that funding will cover the actual investigation.

        Real investigation of real crime does not deserve to be equated to the RIAA's petty, litigious greed. Investigation of real crime is valuable and needs/deserves enough special privilege to operate effectively. The counterbalance is that they have to come up with real evidence.
    • cr4wl3r, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2and this guy tried to run for president.
      fail. absolute fail.
    • thethinktank, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1i met the guy in December here in Iowa. He was with his sons at a restaurant in Davenport, Iowa, where I was visiting my girlfriend's parents. He was surprisingly approachable, very engaging, listened to my girlfriend and I about our politics with a keen interest. I tell you, it was quite a great experience. That said, if I had known his take on this-- I would have punched him in the nuts.
    • spankaccount, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2He's a nanny state liberal - this should not be surprising to people that follow the democratic party.
  • whiteyak41, on 04/17/2008, -9/+176Good thing he didn't get elected president. What a tool.
    • Pstall, on 04/17/2008, -15/+20Too bad Obama supports him and might get elected president.
      • RadiatedAnt, on 04/17/2008, -15/+5too bad you're a Hillary... oops I mean *****.
        • Pstall, on 04/17/2008, -1/+14Hillary supports him too... Hillary and Obama have almost exactly the same political point of view. Its funny you get upset over things that are true about the candidate you are going to vote for. You should be PROUD of the issues they support and believe in.

          Not get upset when someone informs you of things your candidate supports that you did not previously know, because of your lack of research. I mean I guess there are 100's of digg articles so he must be the right guy!
      • Synchronicity, on 04/17/2008, -2/+4Yep...

        It looks like they're efficiently laying groundwork; after the next President passes Network Neutrality, the elites and lobbyists should be well prepared to quickly institute their next levels of unadulterated Internet controls.
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -0/+2Senators and Representatives tend to have a lot of control over government spending. If he was a mayor or some nobody wannabe lobbyist then you could ignore him. But when Senators or Representatives want to spend billions on frivolous projects that either won't work or will dramatically impact personal liberty then you should be afraid, very afraid.
    • jabberwolf, on 04/17/2008, -4/+11Wait for it, He's a typical democrat.... and so is Obama who supports this dude!
      • SniperGX1, on 04/17/2008, -5/+5Holy *****!! All politicians are corrupt!?!? Well no *****.
    • usrlocalbin, on 04/17/2008, -6/+1We're not doing too hot with our current president.
      1 billion on this ***** is better than the billions spent on an unneeded war.
      • grinchdec23, on 04/18/2008, -1/+3This IS an unneeded war also.
        • Stevanoski, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2yaaawwwnnnnn, blah blah blah, talking points from 2 years ago, blah blah blah
      • jabberwolf, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3How about cutting back on ALL *****.

        The war is needed but not the paramilitary blackwater and contractors gouging the USA !
    • alpharaptor, on 04/17/2008, -1/+6welcome to the incarcerated states of america
    • Spudster, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1I had a lot of respect for Biden before I read this. I don't think he realizes how bad of a move this is for him politically.
  • drafhk, on 04/17/2008, -5/+90"pretty easy to pick out the person engaged in either transmitting or downloading violent scenes of rape, molestation"

    ...because we all know that the MAFIAA lobbyists are immensely concerned about child porn and rape being broadcast over the internet, and dually why they give assholes like this millions of dollars to try and pass ***** legislation like this.
    • ItsAllSoSurreal, on 04/18/2008, -0/+10"pretty easy to pick out the person engaged in either transmitting or downloading violent scenes of rape, molestation" The rest of that sentence is "simply by looking at file names." Is he serious? Someone couldn't name their freak file "cute_fluffy_bunnies_frolicking_in_the_forest.mov" ? They think they can get away with any kind of surveillance simply by claiming they're "looking for child porn."
    • iiiears, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Hey if the RIAA costs you the music industry directly lobby your legislator for a subsidy by creating a new agency.
      250 more agents with access unfettered by judicial oversight to all communications in america. What could possibly go wrong?
    • Sinnic, on 04/18/2008, -2/+17I actually especially liked this part:
      "But in 2008 alone, investigators using Fairplay have "seen" more than 1,400 IP addresses tied to swapping child pornography files on at least 100 different occasions, Waters said. He didn't say how he identified what he viewed as child pornography"

      and this "Based on Waters' statements to the committee, the system appears to work like this: Investigators log onto peer-to-peer file-sharing networks as any other person would and search for files containing certain keywords that are likely to indicate child pornography is involved. Then they download the files--frequently videos, sometimes as long as 20 to 30 minutes, with names like "children kiddy underage illegal.mpg" and much more obscene--to their own machines. They're able to use the Fairplay software to obtain the IP address of the file's sender and, in some cases, display its geographic location in map form."

      They download the illegal pornography to make sure that it's illegal pornography. Then they arrest people for viewing and downloading illegal pornography.
      We murder murderers because they kill people. We watch child pornography to stop child pornography. We make war because other people might make war on us.

      /forehead slap
    • Flashman, on 04/18/2008, -0/+6"simply by looking at file names"

      I used to paste "Your IP address has been passed to the FBI, sicko" into a JPG and then share it on Kazaa with a name like "underage-horny.jpg". Pretty funny to imagine some pedophile's reaction to that. But now I know Joe Biden wants me dead.
  • Ninh, on 04/17/2008, -47/+8I'm all for it. Let's put a tax on CDs and DVDs to pay for it, though ...
    • Alfurnguy, on 04/17/2008, -6/+15We dont welcome your kind here
      • PabloMac, on 04/17/2008, -1/+4I recognize your sarcasm, Ninh, and yes, you are welcome here. I recommend making your brand of humor a little more evident, though.
        • dynelol, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4How so? With a stupid ass sarcasm tag? You either catch it or you don't.
      • s4g4n, on 04/17/2008, -2/+1Durka Durr
    • mCanada, on 04/17/2008, -1/+7 When I first heard about media levy's I was appalled, however, in Canada the CD / DVD / ipod levy's that were imposed actually backfired on the CRA as those levy's provided a sort of "safe harbor" protection for p2p in the view of the courts. the CRA and I'm sure even the RIAA via proxy are now seeking to have the levy's removed so that they can freely sue every p2p using Canadian out of existence. The moral of the story? Now when I see a %10 tax on my DVD's, I think to myself "Thank God for that!" not that they should be used for this purpose however!
  • schestowitz, on 04/17/2008, -9/+192RIAA lobbyist. Treating /POSSIBLE/ copyright infringement like child porn.
    • atdigg, on 04/17/2008, -16/+5how is child port copyright infringement? Can anybody have copyright on child porn and ask for it to be protected in instance?
      • Sabazou, on 04/17/2008, -2/+23Reading comprehension ftw
        • Wetzilla, on 04/17/2008, -2/+1"Biden pushed for passage of a bill known as the Combating Child Exploitation Act. It would authorize more than $1 billion over the next eight years to hire 250 new federal agents devoted to Internet crimes against children, provide additional funding to regional computer forensics labs, and give out more federal grants to the regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces."

          I think you are the one who has a problem with reading comprehension.
        • atdigg, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1I was just puzzled by the far fetched comparison...
      • justinlarsen, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3seriously! how could you be the infringement? if anyone had the child port it would be him!
    • 3HackBug77, on 04/17/2008, -9/+8they aren't treating copyright infringement like child porn... are you dumb? it's a bill monitoring child porn being distributed through p2p networks, i don't know why everyone is getting so upset over this, this doesn't have anything with copyright infringement, and he doesn't even attack p2p specifically, just the illegal stuff being distributed.
      More proof that noone on digg RTFA
      • bmdt2000, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1Did anybody actually read the article??? Nowhere does it attack the p2p technology. They even make a point to say that it is not the fault of the technology, but the sick individuals out there using it for kiddie porn. This is to help them concentrate their efforts on where to start looking, not to arrest somebody off of the file trading alone.
  • DteK, on 04/17/2008, -12/+27I used to like this douche bag for some reason
    • kolinkoolface2, on 04/18/2008, -8/+4just like everyone use to like Ron Paul? Except now it's Obama.... what the hell happened there? Oh so Ron Paul can't win... so we all change our political beliefs drastically. Gotcha.
      • Spudster, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1No it seems to me most Diggers had no idea what Libertarianism was about. After band wagoning to the movement, people began to realize how intrinsically cold and heartless libertarianism is.

        The other half were a bunch of tools who had no idea that Ron Paul and Obama differed on policy.
  • dhughey, on 04/17/2008, -2/+137more than 1 BILLION dollars of tax payer money to monitor P2P traffic? wow...
    • NightVortez, on 04/17/2008, -9/+14By God, that's more than Nine Thousand!
      • lacreme, on 04/17/2008, -9/+10fail newfag
      • xlneoMAXlx, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3Goodness, surely you did not say nine thousand?!
        • geoboy, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2*proceeds to crush his visionary enhancement apparatus (also known as a monocle) with his clenching fist*
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -1/+13Let's drop this War on Terrorists, War on Drugs, War on Poverty and all the other wars we have lost and instead have a War on P2P.

      Using these scare tactics and pretending to protect you is the method used by the dirtiest of politicians.
    • Harbinger67, on 04/17/2008, -1/+19"Oh billions of dollars, is there anything you can't fix?" --Jon Stewart
    • xNarrowSoulx, on 04/18/2008, -0/+0@ OrangeTide that's actually a good idea, less the have a War on P2P.
      • Frustian, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Let's have a war on TCP/IP Protocols while we're at it, I heard people can use them to organize terrorist attacks and spread kiddy porn.
      • lacreme, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Using the reply button is actually a good idea, less the have @ symbols to direct replies.
    • lamiaconfitor, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Thats it internet, you are under arrest!
  • FallOutBoyTonto, on 04/17/2008, -2/+23what a maroon
  • iceman0113, on 04/17/2008, -4/+120Stupid idiot, why not spend that $1B in education? This pisses me off: "Still, Biden said he isn't out to "exaggerate" the problem and acknowledged that some of those cases may involve "accidental" exchanges of illicit material." So if an accidental exchange happened, the police would still ruin people's lives just by arresting them and putting them on a list of sex offenders only to see that they were wrong later on.
    • pizpot, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3spend it on spanking him
    • 3HackBug77, on 04/17/2008, -1/+2i agree that the money could have a better use, but they are going after the original distributers, not the others downloading.
      • hexydes, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2Uhm, in a distributed P2P system, EVERYONE is a distributor...
        • iofthestorm, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1*Original* distributors, not just anyone...
    • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -1/+4It's funny he mentions he isn't out to exaggerate the problem, but thinks spending $1 billion on the program is an appropriate response. Well, wtf would exaggerating the threat cost? $250 billion?
    • TrentDeux, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Or god forbid give it back to taxpayers
  • angusm, on 04/17/2008, -2/+44Timothy C. May talked about "the Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse" - terrorists, child pornographers, drug dealers and organized crime - who are always used as a pretext for greater government surveillance of private communications. #2 seems to have been tapped this time, but it's a safe bet that the major beneficiaries of Senator Biden's $1 billion are going to be the MPAA and the RIAA.
    • 3HackBug77, on 04/17/2008, -5/+3AGAIN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THIS ARTICLE HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RIAA OR MPAA. Dear god people stop making assumptions about what the article is about and just read it.
      • grinchdec23, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2Moron.
      • jpkunselman, on 04/18/2008, -2/+1Yeah and they also said there were WMD's in Iraq. You probably voted for Bush didn't you.
    • Patented, on 04/18/2008, -2/+4Yeah, because we know the patriot act is just to catch terrorists too... terrorists like Elliot Spitzer (who's fiscal data was comprimised under a provision of the patriot act, and ultimately led authorities to his hooker escapades).

      Trust me, it will start with the seeking of kiddie porn, but are they to turn a blind eye when they encounter something else illegal (as in Elliot Spitzer's case?). No, they will report it as well.

      It may have nothing to do with the MPAA/RIAA, but be absolutely certain that file sharing of any type will take a hit - and the lobbies for both organizations can't be upset with that one...
  • unravelled, on 04/17/2008, -2/+66BWAHAHHAAAAA- Why don't we take that 1 billion and monitor gov't web surfing/emails. Oh wait that would be badddddddd.
    • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah, this is coming from the same federal gov't that deleted hundreds of emails that were under SUBPOENA. This is also the same federal gov't that has been illegally monitoring emails and calls of American citizens and then claimed ignorance and gave immunity to the telecoms.
    • jbnumba1, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I've thought of a system where every police officer must wear a camera at all times on duty and that the tapes would be reviewable by the public within a certain amount of time. Yes, it would require lots of resources and it would be a privacy issue for the cops but there would also be little to no police corruption.
  • allaboutdatiki, on 04/17/2008, -2/+153$1B from where?
    • TruckStuff, on 04/17/2008, -23/+52He's a democrat. Money grows on trees to them.
      • romistrub, on 04/17/2008, -9/+38Grow up... there are fiscally irresponsible politicians on all sides of the spectrum.
        • mcquitty, on 04/17/2008, -1/+8Yes, but if it were a Republican, there would be a huge backlash about the evils of being a republican out to control everything...
      • IamJustinM, on 04/17/2008, -5/+14That's less than a week in Iraq.
        • hexydes, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2Oh, ok, good call. Now I'm convinced it's a good idea...
      • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -5/+2Exactly romistrub. Bush and Cheney's "pay the budget on credit (i.e. borrowed USD from China) is strictly a Bush Republican thing.
        • 3HackBug77, on 04/17/2008, -2/+3I like how that's exactly what romistrub WASN'T saying. It's a politician thing, not a Democrat/Republican/Bush thing
          • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -1/+3I'm sorry if my sentence structure is wrong.

            I replied to TruckStuff who stated "He's a Democrat. Money grows on trees to them" to which romistrub replied "Grow up... there are fiscally irresponsible politicians on all sides of the spectrum". I replied to that statement with "Exactly romistrub" and then to the original poster my comment is in (TruckStuff) that Bush and Cheney's "pay the budget on credit (borrowed money) is a Bush Republican thing

            Thus I was commenting on two replies (thus I didn't reply to romistrub directly). Mainly agreeing with romistrub and proving that TruckStuff was wrong because Bush thinks fleecing the economy on credit is a good business decision
      • compu73rg33k, on 04/17/2008, -2/+3As opposed to the current Republicans in office who know we can just go ask China!
    • hektur, on 04/17/2008, -0/+44$1B from your pocket according to the article. This guy is a goof.
    • oldgeek, on 04/17/2008, -1/+5tax and spend
    • PabloMac, on 04/17/2008, -0/+10Print a single $1,000,000,000 bill and throw it at the "problem."
      While you're printing one, print an extra for me...
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -2/+19democrat ... MORE TAXES
      republicans ... MORE DEBT
      why can't I vote for someone who is into LESS SPENDING instead?
      • halofourteen, on 04/17/2008, -2/+19Well, there was this one guy...his name started with "R" and ended with "on Paul", but...yeah, that didn't really work out...
        • herrshuster, on 04/17/2008, -2/+7Richard Winston Paul? Who's he?
        • jackalsclaw, on 04/17/2008, -10/+3ron paul was full of the most empty promises, his polices were so impractical that people would a rioted in the street as he tried to round up 10% of the work force and send them home, because they snuck into the contry to work for 3$/hour. he represents all that is wrong with immigration and people scape goating all their troubles onto it.
          • halofourteen, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4Even if they were empty promises, they were the right empty promises. Wouldn't you rather have someone who cared about our sovereignty, civil liberties and obeying the Constitution? He had some rough edges, sure, but he was the only one giving us straight talk about the state of our nation. That earns my vote.
          • jackalsclaw, on 04/20/2008, -0/+1I love civil liberties and the constitution. I hate the fact the ron paul is considered the best defender of then, because he is the most extreme.
        • talkinboutru, on 04/17/2008, -3/+10He's talking about Ru Paul
          • halofourteen, on 04/18/2008, -0/+10Please tell me you didn't make that username just for this comment...
          • talkinboutru, on 04/18/2008, -2/+0Did you make that username because The Fragile was taken?
      • subterfuge, on 04/17/2008, -0/+2i'm gonna vote libertarian in state elections. if one got elected, that would have a greater impact on my liberties than a libertarian president. people don't realize that the only thing presidents really have control over is foreign policy. libertarian state legislators could actually change things (assuming the fed doesn't strike them down, which is a real possibility)
        • hexydes, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2I always find that very funny. People focus on the President because they are one person in one office (and the media exploits that for ratings), but at the end of the day, the President is sort of a glorified figurehead; the real decisions get made mostly by the legislative branch, with (unfortunately) help from the judicial branch.

          That's why I think it's so funny to watch people froth at the mouth and cry when their horse doesn't get elected. Who cares?
        • Parkinsons, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Because when you vote for the president you are not just voting for one man. You are voting for the hundreds he will appoint to the executive and judicial branch.
      • TrentDeux, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1If only Newt Gingrich had joined the fray...
      • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Well, the only party left that wants to shrink gov't back down to where it is supposed to be is the libertarian party. Yep, the same party that democrats and republicans make it a point to ridicule as a joke and not a real political party.
    • subterfuge, on 04/17/2008, -0/+5he wants to make US pay money so we can't download the songs WE want. sounds like a winning platform to me.
      • nomadxx7, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Unless you're downloading homebrew kiddy porn I think you'll be alright. However, in the future this bill may be amended to mean copyrighted material, etc.
    • Parkinsons, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1China
  • dspirito, on 04/17/2008, -0/+17While his suggestion is to monitor p2p transmission of files for child pornography by the filenames; it says nothing at all about copyrighted content. However, I don't see it as unforeseeable that the scrutiny might leak into copyrighted files we may find of interest, such as movies and mp3s. So yeah, we should pay attention to this proposal.. a little.
  • PinkFloydFan, on 04/17/2008, -18/+1You'd think they'd have something better to do than pass stupid bills.

    Comedic relief? http://digg.com/comedy/Sexy_comic_SFW_PIC
    • ShempRider, on 04/17/2008, -0/+5No, not really. That's pretty much what they do for a living.
    • antipoet, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3Are you really done with the self promotion now?
    • jj9000, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1The comic is not funny.
  • jpstanle, on 04/17/2008, -3/+97But guys, he's trying to save us from kiddie porn! Kiddie porn! We are morally obligated to enact any policies that _might_ combat child pornography, no matter how absurd, impractical, unconstitutional, or expensive it may be!

    Won't you please THINK OF THE CHILDREN???!!?
    • CTK14A, on 04/17/2008, -1/+15Isn't this the same reason why we don't have nationwide public wi-fi?
      http://digg.com/politics/Congress_Yells_Kiddie_Por ...
      • subterfuge, on 04/17/2008, -0/+2we don't have public wifi because internet is better when it's in the hands of the private sector. google is considering introducing nationwide internet via the spectrums between airwave TV channels, which would be way more awesome than anything the government would do
    • Pstall, on 04/17/2008, -0/+14Will someone please fill me in on why this is technically not wiretapping?
      • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -2/+3Because with Bush he can illegally wiretap all he wants. Sure it may be criminal but Congress is along for the right. Being patted on the back and sitting in the dark. Hell Bush called the Constitution a goddamn piece of paper http://www.gnn.tv/threads/10799/Bush_on_the_Consti ...
        • geoboy, on 04/18/2008, -0/+4It's not considered wiretapping because the internet is made of tubes. Duh. They'd have to call it tube tapping.
      • lamiaconfitor, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2Good point, this is probably legal already.
    • milkmage, on 04/17/2008, -2/+8well then he should go after the source.. those damn kids.
    • jackalsclaw, on 04/17/2008, -0/+7they should surgically fit goggles everyones eyes so the government can remotely lower covers down to ensure we don't see anything illegal
    • dynelol, on 04/18/2008, -2/+4"Help the children! Save the children!" Ya know what I say? ***** the children! ***** 'em!
    • themonkman, on 04/18/2008, -9/+4You all say "***** the Children", but I happen to know a lot of adults who were sexually brutalized as kids. Unless it's happened to you, you have no ***** clue as to the mental anguish this causes kids, even well into their adult lives. Perhaps this bill is not the best way at combating the problem of child porn and exploitation, but to go as far as to say "***** the children!" is reprehensible.

      Perhaps you were one of the lucky kids like me that wasn't raped, but you could've been that 7 year old kid who's father was gang banging you with his best friend from work and shoving a ***** in your mouth while the others driving a plumbing pipe up your ass. Yeah, those are the types of stories I hear from some of these victims. For those of you who say "***** the children", please have one of your relatives contact me when you die. I'd like to ***** on your grave before they cover your waste of human flesh with dirt.
      • themonkman, on 04/18/2008, -5/+1Sure, digg me down but don't have even the courage or mental capacity to even comment as to why.
        • dynelol, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Well, I dugg you down because you're a complete ***** retard. I didn't mean to LITERALLY ***** them, you imbecile.
      • jamesmcm, on 04/18/2008, -0/+5No-ones defending child molesters - only that this technology would be used to stop music pirates and other corporate interests; not to stop child porn.
  • Sinai, on 04/17/2008, -9/+12I wonder how many people are really against this because they enjoy child pornography. Raising the specter of MPAA and such is pretty tangential to the subject at hand.

    Moreover, I can't help but wonder if they could achieve rough parity without writing their own proprietary system, nuts and bolts and all. Or for that matter, why they would need a system with such massive overview of illegal content if they've only got a handful of agents working nationwide.
    • Manshima, on 04/17/2008, -2/+3The funding ($1B over 8 years) includes hiring 250 more investigators. At first I was sceptical of this, but after reading the whole story it seems that they are only after child porn, which is good. People who traffic knowingly in such material need to be hunted down and punished to the full extent on the law. And then some.
      • iiiears, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Yes, You are right about the bill as it is now...

        Until the new agency finds a wealthy lobbyist that petitiions a legislator to expand it's power.

    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -0/+5I'm not interested in wasting tax dollars on tracking child pornography. What's wrong with the old fashioned way of encouraging people to come forward and report abuse and throwing the son of a bitch in a hell hole prison?
      I think we would have more progress if our society removed the stigma from being a victim of sexual abuse. Rather than just throwing money at a problem that has been suddenly thrust into public view because of the Internet. (child porn and child predators have been around for hundreds of years)
    • themonkman, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1I wouldn't be surprised if there are a lot of pedophiles and pedo-sympathizers posting right now on this topic. It seems that they are pretty vocal when hiding behind a keyboard. In reality, they are all ***** cowards. You should see them cry like bitches when they get handcuffed and drug off to jail. It's a beautiful sight. Trust me on that.
  • OBDriftwood, on 04/17/2008, -1/+36A politician wants to spend money frivolously? Didn't see that one coming.
    • pizpot, on 04/17/2008, -1/+5his brother in law has a program he wrote...
      • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -2/+1What?!? Where in the article did it state that his brother-in-law wrote the program? Are you pulling ***** from your ass?
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1THINK OF THE CHILDREN! (and of all backroom deals and all the friends these politicians are going to hire).
    • subterfuge, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1it's fun to spend money when it isn't yours
  • wynja, on 04/17/2008, -2/+29Cause we've got nothing better to spend $1 billion dollars on. Let's help out the overly bloated ***** wads in Hollywood.
    • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -1/+3Currently, the $1B is to check out more cases of child pornography on P2P networks. Sure this may balloon and engulf all copyright content. But currently since it's illegal to possess or transmit child porn, Biden wants to put more money into the FBI's child porn unit (they are now only able to take care of about 2% of KNOWN child pornography cases).
    • cliffski, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1yeah because everyone who works in the entertainment industry down to the sound boom guy is a billionaire. get some perspective you ***** retard.
  • LANjackal, on 04/17/2008, -1/+20I'm surprised no one has picked up on the fact that a file's name is NOT related to its content by rule. I take a picture of a car and rename the file "flowers". That doesn't the pic contains any flowers at all. This proposal is silly at best.
    • pizpot, on 04/17/2008, -0/+6so they will have to run big-brother programs on your PC if filenames don't work. one step at a time though.
    • Acglaphotis, on 04/17/2008, -1/+4Flawed logic coming from a politician? NOWAI.
    • Y0tsuya, on 04/17/2008, -0/+13We can all have our revenge by renaming goatse/meatspin/tubgirl pix and vids and trading them using filenames like 12yo_lolita_bukkake.jpg.
      • pizpot, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Download goatse evil name generator/filesize changer 1.5 [here].
        • geoboy, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3Okay, but all it does is rename everything to hello.jpg
    • starlessaeon, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Surely they give kiddy pornographers a little more credit than that. They may be deranged, but they're not stupid enough to give files names that actually relate to their content. Especially not if they know they could be monitored.
  • Foxehh, on 04/17/2008, -2/+10This proposal seems unfeasible. The prospect of monitoring all U.S. Internet data seems like a daunting task.
    • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -1/+5Not if you have AT&T filtering all their internet connections to a small office for DHS. Illegal wiretapping people? It wasn't just on emails, it was on all internet traffic.
  • zhepp, on 04/17/2008, -7/+41guys calm down no way bush will let 1 billion get spent on the internet that could be spent on war instead...
    • ANT1138, on 04/17/2008, -3/+2I guess I'd rather be sued for sharing files than have my money go to more killing... Will the stupidity ever end?
    • s4g4n, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3QFT
  • ashcrow, on 04/17/2008, -0/+10... yeah this isn't going to work.
  • hektur, on 04/17/2008, -1/+23I heart the RIAA.

    /plot twist
  • kalel90, on 04/17/2008, -1/+8He can kiss my ass.
  • Ecanem, on 04/17/2008, -0/+12Never fear America! There will always be a way to waste your money in some crazy scheme!
  • bingobongony, on 04/17/2008, -30/+5Spending money to make sure people don't break the law? The HORROR!

    (Sorry guys...no matter what you want to believe, copyright infringement is illegal.)
    • briankwest, on 04/17/2008, -4/+11Its civil not criminal!

      /b
      • badqat, on 04/17/2008, -8/+2If that's the case, then why does the FBI and Interpol investigate piracy? Because it's a crime, hence, criminal activity.
        • grinchdec23, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2Link to a law or it didn't happen.
    • Pstall, on 04/17/2008, -1/+11Spending money for the government to monitor what private citizens are doing online? What ever happened to the right to privacy in your own home?
      • cliffski, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1your right to privacy doesnt let you sell drugs in your home, or take them, the same is true of copyright theft
    • DemonWasp, on 04/17/2008, -4/+4The issue also has to do with spending $1,000,000,000 worth of taxpayer money to combat piracy. There is a lot of uncertainty as to how much piracy costs companies, if at all, but spending $1B to combat it is just silliness.
      • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3Christ did you read the article? It was about combating child pornography.

        FTA
        But in 2008 alone, investigators using Fairplay have "seen" more than 1,400 IP addresses tied to swapping child pornography files on at least 100 different occasions

        Biden said he also isn't pleased to see that the FBI currently has only 32 agents working in its "Innocent Images" unit, which focuses on child pornography. Still, Biden said he isn't out to "exaggerate" the problem and acknowledged that some of those cases may involve "accidental" exchanges of illicit material.

        Biden pushed for passage of a bill known as the Combating Child Exploitation Act. It would authorize more than $1 billion over the next eight years to hire 250 new federal agents devoted to Internet crimes against children, provide additional funding to regional computer forensics labs, and give out more federal grants to the regional Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces

        ***** the RIAA. But this is about people's homebrew kiddy porn.
        • DemonWasp, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1I skimmed, and I did see that paragraph. I'm aware the article was (on the surface, at least) about catching people trafficking child porn. That's great, I support that.

          But I was responding to the comment by bingobongony above, which speaks to the fears that this could be some underhanded attempt to regulate P2P networks for the benefit of the RIAA/MPAA. That, I don't support.

          * I'm digging you up because you're right, and I was unintentionally vague.
    • xerigen, on 04/17/2008, -2/+4There are other major things that should take precedence.
    • AngryFox, on 04/18/2008, -1/+2Of the 100 things on America's "To-do list", this is number 98. Sorry, not worth 1B$.
    • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -3/+2I wish I had enough money to pay the gov't so they can be my company's personal police force. You'd think spending $500 million in bribes to the gov't was a waste, but the gov't returns the favor by spending $1 billion of tax money to pay you back. Looks like the RIAA/MPAA had a pretty good deal worked out with Biden. We have a separation of church and state amendment...we really need a separation of church and corporation amendment. No one would approve $1 billion to stop music piracy...so you just cloak it in a 'child porn' disguise.

      maybe it's just me, but this sounds like another form of corporate welfare because the entertainment industry fell behind the times.
      • cliffski, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1how did they fall behind? you can buy cheap drm-free music on itunes, but scumbag thieves like you insist on stealing anyway. you are thieves and need locking up, and the sooner the government slings scum like you in a cell the better. if you dont like it, ***** off to north korea.
        • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1So which anti-piracy company you work for cliffy? All you do is follow around p2p articles and tell everyone they belong in jail for a civil matter. Wish digg would start cleaning up these spammer accounts on digg.
          • cliffski, on 04/20/2008, -0/+1awwww poor little diddums cant possibly cope with the fact that people don't all agree with SHEEPLE like him. heres a clue, why dont you ***** off and get a job and stop leeching off honest people eh?
            Go play in the road dumbass.
    • cliffski, on 04/18/2008, -2/+1agreed 100%, but the 7year old kiddies on digg think the world owes them a ***** living. Thats why nobody makes movies games or music for those thieves any more. ***** em.
  • dizilbdog, on 04/17/2008, -2/+7Yeah Yeah and let's get rid of Cellphones and Use two cans with a string.
  • scarz99, on 04/17/2008, -2/+5Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong Wrong and one more Wrong.
  • bbliss17, on 04/17/2008, -13/+2What a tool. Why not just give that money to the artist then. that is the stupided thing ever!
  • sparkrainfir, on 04/17/2008, -1/+5here is an idea, lets spend 1billion dollars to be competitive with the market...

    • BikeRanger, on 04/17/2008, -1/+5Who needs to compete when you can just buy politicians?
  • necbone, on 04/17/2008, -2/+27Put the ***** money in EDUCATION *****... Politicians are sooooo fail and evil...
    • RunningRabbit, on 04/17/2008, -10/+6Yea *****, why bother looking for child pornography right? What an ass, wanting to protect kids and all. How about you shut the ***** up and read the article first?
      • necbone, on 04/17/2008, -4/+8Why don't you suck my ***** bitch boy and look at the bigger picture.... D/Ling child porn is not the problem, it's educating the populace so that their kids don't get into child porn, ***** douche...
        • nomadxx7, on 04/17/2008, -4/+1Sorry but you can only educate so much. You telling me it takes $1billion to TEACH parents to actually be involved in what their children are doing on the internet, making sure they don't have a personal computer in their rooms, and not to talk to strangers?

          Christ my mom taught me that for free. It's called common sense.
      • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -0/+4I don't ***** care about child porn. I only care about child abuse. If you trade filthy porn on the net and get caught, then sure you deserve to get punished. But I don't see the problem with just catching the dirt bigs once they've molested some kid. That seems to me to be easily traceable because you have a witness and physical evidence. Keep encouraging people to come forward (education) and keep tossing the boy touchers in prison.
        Huge programs to preemptively find criminals seems pretty damn scary.
        So when some tech-savvy pedo uses my computer or router because I can't keep up with all the hacks and patching then I get held without bail while the police ransack my home? NO THANKS
  • mikeyellenlee, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1i wonder if that's even what that money would be used for...shady sons a b*tches.
  • piznut, on 04/17/2008, -10/+9The title is vague so that it can be more 'sensational'. They are actually talking about monitoring p2p networks for people trading child porn.

    Buried for inaccurate title.
  • championchap, on 04/17/2008, -0/+8Oh good, a P2P monitoring invention.. that's a REAL useful invention!
  • codyman, on 04/17/2008, -4/+10democrats wasting ridiculous amounts of money to prevent you, the taxpayer, from doing "naughty" things / attempting to put you on the "correct" path ... that NEVER happens....
    • MrTito, on 04/17/2008, -1/+2Yeah, because Republicans never do that... Oh wait, they're usually the people that are targetted.

      What is Mark Foley up to these days?
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -0/+2neocons and progressive both want to control society to protect them from themselves.
    • kineticarl, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1rape, molestation, and child porn are merely "naughty"? I think they're rather vile.
  • shadowmoose, on 04/17/2008, -1/+4I feel the need to physically track him down and just smack him upside the head.
  • stix213, on 04/17/2008, -6/+14What, I thought Democrat = Good and Republican = Evil...... Now I'm all confused.
    • SaperKain, on 04/17/2008, -5/+2Why are you confused? Democrats are generally better than republicans because they listen to the people. Joe Biden is misguided on this but it does not erase years of good service.
      • R0am3r, on 04/18/2008, -1/+3Sheeple alert!
        • SaperKain, on 04/18/2008, -2/+1Conservative alert -SEVERE- ------> R0am3r
      • waynetheman, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2"Democrats are better"? Are you serious?

        And here I was hoping that people were finally seeing past that whole tired Red Team/Blue Team charade.
      • randumbusername, on 04/18/2008, -0/+0i told them i wanted to keep more of my freedom and check. didn't listen.
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -3/+2they are the same thing.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocon#Left-wing_past ...
    • steven512, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2they are both bad
  • Elissar, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3For Shame Joe Biden, for shame.
  • Jovensdesciple, on 04/17/2008, -7/+7If it was a republican senator people would be exploding in rage, he would most likely be killed, a democrat would win the next election, and our country would be ruined.
    • SaperKain, on 04/17/2008, -3/+4What the hell is wrong with you?
    • cliffski, on 04/18/2008, -3/+2yeah, enforcing the law would ruin America. get a clue dumbass
      • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1I have a new drinking game. You go here http://digg.com/users/cliffski/history and everytime you see a comment that involves digg users should 'grow up', people who fileshare should be in prison, or comparing p2p copyright infringement to dealing illegal drugs you have to take a drink.
        • cliffski, on 04/20/2008, -1/+1how about a new game, retards like you grow up and get a job. ***** off and start playing.
  • blugill, on 04/17/2008, -12/+7AGAIN, you little Digg socialists pay attention here! Liberals are telling you exactly who they are, they despise your freedom!

    They hate they you have your own money and want their cut of it before you get your paycheck!

    Joe Biden is a socialist but in the true sense of being a socialist, you are just pretend wannabe socialists and don't understand the consequences of your "beliefs".
    • Wetzilla, on 04/17/2008, -1/+2Yes, wanting to stop child pornography is definitely on the socialist agenda. How dare they!
    • therealbht, on 04/17/2008, -1/+2You are delusional. Take your proselytizing somewhere else...
    • OrangeTide, on 04/17/2008, -2/+3neocons are just a different type of socialism. choose you poison, both parties are FATAL.
      Leninists versus theocratic Marxists. It is madness to tolerate the continuation of the two party system
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocon#Left-wing_past ...
    • antipoet, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1I agree that we should always be aware of what people are trying to sell us. BUT I also believe most things (most times) are the result of good, however misguided, intentions.
    • jamesmcm, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Do you hear that rumbling sound? Yeah, I think it's Trotsky turning in his grave. Neocons most definitely aren't Socialists.

      Socialists aren't evil - I'm a socialist and I would never support this policy. Socialism is about providing for everyone in society so that everyone has an opportunity to do well in life. It's about providing education and healthcare as a right.

      I live in Britain, and my mother has systemic lupus - it means she's reliant on taking steroids (and other drugs to counteract the side-effects of the steroids) to stay alive. If it wasn't for the NHS here she would be dead - as would I, since i had many problems when I was born. Why should people die needlessly when society can easily afford to give them a chance at life? Is getting your next car a month earlier really worth more than a well-educated populace?

      The USSR wasn't truly socialist, Scandinavia is much closer - and they have the highest HDI in the world.

      Basically - stop listening to Pat Robertson and research Socialism yourself, Socialism does not equal Authoritarianism.
  • diggerachi, on 04/17/2008, -1/+6I wonder how much the envelope that slipped into his pocket was worth.
    • peznex, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2Maybe $1799? Unless, he got the SSD and/or 1.8GHz processor.
  • ad33lshahid, on 04/17/2008, -3/+13can we start spending this money on things that we actually need? like a healthcare system that works and a school system that actually teaches you how to read past the 3rd grade level? im so sick of people wasting our money. I wish we decided what to do with our money at a local level.. this is garbage
  • Fishn2, on 04/17/2008, -5/+7Damn, I should really delete "children kiddy underage illegal.mpg" from my computer. C net are on to me.
  • Shadowfox99, on 04/17/2008, -2/+20......and they actually think that it will stop pirates....NOTHING CAN STOP PIRATES........cept ninjas..
    • Evildudetx, on 04/17/2008, -0/+6Even the ninjas can't stop us all......
  • jojo1224, on 04/17/2008, -4/+6haha, im in canada and i download illegal files so y dont u come and get me, o wait it would be to hard to find me because alot of people download illegal files. And he should spend the money education. ***** retard.
    • twiztidsinz, on 04/17/2008, -1/+7Maybe you should run spellcheck and use whole words before you call someone a retard.
      • grinchdec23, on 04/18/2008, -1/+1Maybe you should stay on topic...
    • Carlix, on 04/17/2008, -0/+5People like you are the reasons why money should be used for education.
    • sgtpppr, on 04/18/2008, -0/+2Watch what you wish for. Canada has time and time again bowed to US demands to extradite those it wanted to charge with crimes.
  • groovechamp30, on 04/17/2008, -1/+3what a moron.
  • beloitpiper, on 04/17/2008, -0/+10Hmmm...being bought by the RIAA? I think so.
  • OmegaSnake2007, on 04/17/2008, -6/+4I lost a lot of respect for Biden but he is still a great senator. This is one of the few bad things that he has done out of hundreds done by other politicians.
    • Evildudetx, on 04/17/2008, -0/+3It doesn't matter how great you think he is - by even mentioning something this idiotic, he now has NO credibility with anyone.
    • ElSnuggles, on 04/18/2008, -0/+3I'm right there with you.

      I really respected Biden...before this. I was one of his supporters in his presidential campaign. I'm simply stunned that he after all of his "don't take money from the lobbyists" he goes and pulls a stunt that only someone that takes money from the music/movie lobbyists.

      /sigh
    • waynetheman, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1"a great senator"

      No such thing.
  • RunningRabbit, on 04/17/2008, -19/+10For all you fools bitching about this, please READ THE ***** ARTICLE.

    The title is COMPLETELY MISLEADING. In fact, this article talks about how the senator wants to monitor P2P networks for CHILD PORNOGRAPHY. So all you stealing music can go ahead and keep doing that, no need to freak out.
    • Vileputrid, on 04/17/2008, -2/+7Oh the good old "For the children". That's nothing but an excuse.
    • AngeloM3, on 04/17/2008, -2/+6Yah but still.... any kind of monitoring of what your doing online is B.S.!
      • Atomic1fire, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1Even if you are a proven criminal...
        If you have an ankle bracelet is that an infridgement on your rights
        or is it punishment for something you did
    • TrinitronX, on 04/17/2008, -2/+6Still, this does not take away from the big picture. The internet's the only place that's still free and they're trying to police it. This is the first step towards losing these freedoms. Remember when america gave up it's freedom to stop "terrorism". Now we've got illegal wiretaps, and the patriot act.
      Now we need to let them police the internet to protect against child pornography?? How about they stop the people making it in real life, without intruding into the internet to do so?
      • Atomic1fire, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1I guess freedom means freedom from being governed
        If you are an american citizen
        you have rights and responsibilities
        you are responsible for your actions and responsible for any punishment that comes with that
        You have the rights granted by the Bill of rights
    • goodinohio, on 04/17/2008, -2/+6You believe that? As soon as the system is in place they would monitor everything, everyone.
    • MrTito, on 04/17/2008, -2/+4Hey man, don't bring facts and reason into this. Only sensationalism and anti-government sentiment are allowed here.
    • ePuck, on 04/17/2008, -3/+1Does epuck need to choke-a-senator?
    • diggingaround, on 04/18/2008, -0/+1How old are you? 2? Do you really think that's what is going on here?
  • AlKo, on 04/17/2008, -0/+1He thought all they needed as someone to sit next to the tubes.
    Besidse, that $1 billion will come straight from middle class Americans anyways. It won't hurt his lobbyist buddies.
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