[DMCA-Activists] Brett Wynkoop: FTC P2P Workshop Requests to Participate

[Seth Johnson]

Brett's request to participate in the FTC's Workshop on "P2P
Filesharing," details of which may be found at:

> http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/workshops/filesharing/index.htm
> http://www.ftc.gov/os/2004/10/041015p2pfrn.pdf


Seth

---


Greeting-

    I have been a user of the internet since 1987, when I brought
the first public access to the internet in New York City online. 
The following year I provided technical knowledge to bring
Panix.com online, New York City's second public internet access
system. I have written, deployed, and used peer to peer systems
for both commercial and non-commercial purposes since 1987.

    I will show the FTC that many of the problems that are
attributed to P2P have nothing to do with either peer to peer
architecture or applications.  Most of the problems often thought
of as being associated with "P2P file sharing apps" are in
reality caused by inaction in areas having to do with antitrust
concerns, allowing the largest software company on the planet to
protect its dominance in the market with a faulty operating
system.  The FTC can best protect against the array of risks
enumerated in the call for participation for this workshop by
acting to allow competition in the market place so Americans may
choose software that fosters their understanding and choice
regarding the capacities and risks associated with the software
that is currently installed on most home or small business
computers in the United States Of America.

    I have not used the word "consumer" in the above statement. 
When it comes to the information age, anyone with an inexpensive
personal computer and a ubiquitous cheap internet connection is
really a "maker and publisher".  In this respect, all Americans
now stand on an equal footing with The New York Times, The
Washington Post, ABC, CBS, CNN, or even Disney.  As an example of
this I refer you to my labor of love, Brooklyn On Line,
http://www.brooklynonline.com/, which is hosted  on a 12 year old
80486 PC with a value on the used market of perhaps $50; and to
http://www.starshipexeter.com/, which started as one man's dream
to produce a SciFi show with and for his friends.  There are
countless new artists & creators who are taking advantage of the
near-zero cost of publication that P2P technology and the
Internet provide, making it possible for any person to get their
work to a wider audience, and gain the support and recognition
they need to enrich society further.

    The biggest problem associated with peer to peer technology
is a lack of understanding by government and in that ignorance a
desire to "regulate and protect".  Typically things like KaZaA,
GNUTELLA, or GROKSTER are held up as peer to peer.  These
programs are actually a subset of true peer to peer in operation;
in fact, they are little more than distributed search engines.
The basic design of TCP/IP networking and the underlying
infrastructure really provide the peer to peer capabilities and
any examination of peer to peer technology needs to be done with
an understanding of what the technology really is.

    Always-on internet connections, spyware, adware, and viruses
are among the points of interest the FTC seems to wish to take up
in this workshop that actually do not have any relationship to
peer to peer technology. Threats from these and many other things
to the American computer- and Internet-using public can be traced
more closely to the flawed operating system software that is
forced on the public by the monopoly power of the world's largest
software maker.  As I write this, there is a computer in my
office that has been on the internet running the most used peer
to peer program in the world constantly since 1984. This computer
has never had any of the problems that the FTC is examining with
this workshop.  It will never have any of these problems because
the computer in question uses software that was designed from the
ground up with security and robustness in mind.  There are
hundreds of thousands of similar computers on the internet today,
but the public is not aware that they have a choice to install
the same type of software on any computer and enjoy the benefits
and peace of mind that comes from using a product that is fit for
the world of the internet.  The public has been misled by the
large makers of "personal computers", who have been compelled by
a large monopoly into creating the impression that there is no
choice in operating system software for "personal computers".  If
the public were properly exposed to the choices in a true free
market, most if not all the risks the FTC seeks to address would
simply vanish.

    Other people that you should consider having on the panel
include:

1.  Jay Sulzberger -  New Yorkers for Fair Use - address@hidden

2.  Seth Johnson - C-FIT (Committee For Independent Technology)
                   address@hidden 

3.  Michael Smith - LXNY - New York's Free Software group -
                    address@hidden

4.  Eric Allman - Sendmail, Inc. (author of most widely used P2P
                  internet application) - address@hidden

They all have great knowledge in the area of peer to peer and
internet issues.

    I look forward to the opportunity to participate in this
workshop and share some things I have learned in my years working
on peer to peer networks.

-Brett Wynkoop
President, Wynn Data Limited

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