DCIA Announces Inadvertent Sharing Protection Program

Washington, DC (PRWEB) July 11, 2008 -- The Distributed Computing Industry Association (www.DCIA.info), a trade organization with more than one-hundred Member companies including peer-to-peer and social networking software developers and distributors (P2Ps), Internet service providers (ISPs), content owners (COs), and service-and-support companies, today announced an industry-wide program to protect P2P users against the inadvertent sharing of personal or sensitive data.

The announcement of this program culminates a year of work among leading P2P companies and other technology sector participants along with US federal regulatory authorities. A document summarizing the program is posted on the DCIA website at www.dcia.info/activities/ispg/inadvertentsharingprotection.pdf.

"We are grateful for the participation of industry-leading companies in a collaborative process with regulatory agency representatives that has resulted in an excellent work product. While adoption is a voluntary decision to be made by each company on an individual basis, we are confident of wide acceptance, and will not only encourage, but also monitor compliance," said DCIA CEO Marty Lafferty in making the announcement.

The summary document begins with a glossary defining terms specifically related to subject matter concerns, such as "recursive sharing," "sensitive file type," and "user-originated file," as well as protective measures, such as "affirmative step."

It then outlines seven steps that are required to be in compliance with the program. These include 1) default settings, 2) file-sharing controls, 3) shared-folder configurations, 4) user-error protections, 5) sensitive-file-type restrictions, 6) file-sharing status communications, and 7) developer principles.

The developer principles for P2P file-sharing software applications address feature disablement, uninstallation, new-version upgrades, and file-sharing settings.

Finally, the document includes an eighth optional step for added consumer protection that relates to inactive states of the P2P file-sharing application (fully disconnected from the P2P network and running in the background).

Leading P2P application LimeWire's CEO George Searle said, "LimeWire is committed to providing a great file-sharing product that people love to use and that provides for their personal safety. We have actively participated in key developmental aspects of this program and believe it will help protect users from the inadvertent sharing of personal or sensitive information."

Top commercial P2P software provider Kontiki's President Eric Armstrong added, "Kontiki, which offers secure peer-assisted content delivery technology, supports the provisions of this program. We believe this DCIA initiative will be valuable to users and creators of software for redistribution of user-originated content."

Major P2P content delivery solutions provider Pando Networks' CEO Robert Levitan concluded, "At Pando Networks, we believe users should always be in control of any P2P application on their desktop. We support this effort that will benefit the entire industry by advancing consumer safety in the large and growing P2P marketplace."

About the DCIA

The Distributed Computing Industry Association (DCIA) is a non-profit trade organization focused on commercial development of peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing and related distributed computing technologies.

DCIA Membership is organized into three Groups: Content, Operations, and Platform. The DCIA conducts working groups and special projects, such as the P4P Working Group (P4PWG), P2P Digital Watermark Working Group (PDWG), Consumer Disclosures Working Group (CDWG), P2P PATROL, and the P2P Revenue Engine (P2PRE). It also publishes the weekly online newsletter DCINFO.

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