Week 7 Hand-in Assignment 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Week 7 Hand-in Assignment 7 - Essay Example So RIAA began filing injunctions and lawsuits, including some highly publicized and notorious ones against individual users. By 2002, Napster had been absorbed by the pay service Rhapsody (King 2002). Lawyers could argue the legalities of Napster for years. A few subscribers successfully claimed the music was theirs and been legitimately purchased. So sharing the download was technically no different than letting your friends listen to your CD. Yet what about the true criminal enterprises that use peer to peer to ply their trade. Who and what are they? What challenge is it for forensics investigators to hunt them down and prosecute them for their offenses? Once again new technology brings new difficulties for the law officer. The â€Å"industry† that has used peer to peer most successfully since Napster is the pornographers. This particularly includes those in the profession who operate outside the law, specifically those who manufacture and sell child porn. The United States General Accounting Office (GAO) in its 2003 paper notes that 57% of all traffic on peer to peer networks involves child pornography and child erotica. They don’t attempt to hide it either. Using simple keywords (including the names of cartoon characters!), Customs agents were able to download over three hundred images. It is not only illegal but a concern that juveniles will have ready access to pornography whether they want to or not. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children likewise tracks such things and saw a 400% increase of peer to peer child porn in just one year (GAO 2003). Another criminal element utilizing peer to peer networks is terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda. Stringent international efforts by countries putting their entire weight behind criminal investigations since 9/11 have caused the terrorists to go deeper underground. So peer to peer networks provide excellent