[September 20, 2004]

Governator to Ban State Office P2P

BY JOHANNE TORRES

And California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s battle to get his state in sync with technology goes on… The governator issued an executive order that would ban state workers from illegally downloading and sharing copyrighted materials.

With this move, Schwarzenegger would make California the first state in the U.S. to forbid P2P enabling software to be used on state property nets and computers.

According to the executive order, the governor’s main concern with P2P file sharing is security. The order calls the technology a risk for confidential and sensitive information, which could lead to leaks that would provide access to users outside the state system. There is also a major concern with the possibility of virus infestation which could cause significant damage to state property equipment.

The order also notes the value of the state revenue-making entertainment industry. Schwarzenegger, a former actor and member of the entertainment industry, pointed out that P2P file swapping—often used to download copyrighted material, such as music, movies, software and video games can result in huge revenue losses for the industry.

"So many of the entertainment industry's talented musicians, actors, writers and programmers devote their careers to creating products that enrich our society. We need to do our part to protect the creative and intellectual property they work so hard to create for the rest of us." said Governor Schwarzenegger. "Today California is taking a stand against use of state resources for illegal downloading of this material and standing in support of the work of these talented Californians."

Schwarzenegger’s decision could be winning the hearts of the entertain ment industry executives, but skeptics, however, still worry about UC and CSU college heads being the only ones urged to adopt the policy. College students, often enabled with high speed broadband connections—courtesy of the universities, are among the largest groups of P2P file swappers.

This announcement comes after Schwarzenegger signed a law last month that would go into effect on January 1st of next year, allowing artists to conduct annual audits of any record companies doing business in California. The law allows a single auditor to work for several artists on the same label simultaneously, thereby reducing the cost of audits.