tate attorneys general may be gearing up for action against Internet file-sharing companies, with lobbyists in the movie industry helping to write the declaration of war.
A draft of a letter calling file-sharing software like Kazaa, which is used to download music, movies and other files, "a dangerous product" was circulated last week under the name of the California attorney general, Bill Lockyer.
That letter, addressed to companies that develop file-sharing or peer-to-peer software, called on them to warn their customers about the "legal and personal risks" that they face using the software, like the importation of pornographic materials and viruses on their computers and possible liability for copyright infringement. "A failure to prominently and adequately warn consumers could constitute, at the very least, a deceptive trade practice," the letter stated.
It concluded: "In the future, we will not hesitate to take whatever actions we deem necessary to ensure that you fulfill your duties as a reasonable corporate citizen."
Supporters of peer-to-peer software identified the person who had last worked on the version of the letter making the rounds of the Internet as Vans Stevenson, the senior vice president for state legislative affairs at the Motion Picture Association of America.
Mr. Stevenson acknowledged that he had worked on the letter, but called it "a work in progress" and said that his association was simply doing what such groups do: raising their concerns with lawmakers and trying to work with them.
"People are asking, 'Did you write it?' No," he said. "Was input sought from us? Absolutely," he said.
Mr. Stevenson's involvement has only added fuel to the conflict. "A lobbying organization has sought to influence a public official," said Adam Eisgrau, executive director or P2P United, a trade association for the peer-to-peer companies.
Tom Dressler, a spokesman for Mr. Lockyer, said that the document that had been circulated was simply a draft, adding that the dispute was "blown out of proportion" because "there is no letter to comment on." He noted that "when there is a letter to comment on, we'll do so at that time."
Mr. Dressler said that Mr. Lockyer was concerned about problems with file-sharing technology, and hoped that the industry would address the issues voluntarily.
But representatives of the industry say that they had done precisely that by incorporating technologies like pornography filters and virus protection into their products. "The issues in this letter, other than copyright, have really been addressed thoroughly," said Marty Lafferty, the chief executive of the Distributed Computing Industry Association, a trade group affiliated with Kazaa.
Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a technology policy group, said that the letter expressed a "rather unprecedented legal theory" that, if extended to other products like cars, would require "an incredibly long list of warnings, like 'Warning! the use of this car to commit a bank robbery might subject you to federal prosecution!' "
Longtime political observers said it was not surprising to see a lobbyist drafting a position paper for the use of public officials.
James Tierney, a former attorney general of Maine who is a consultant to other state attorneys general, called the furor over the Lockyer letter "a tempest over nothing."
"If public officials are taking positions they would not take otherwise, then that is a matter of public interest," he said. If the officeholder already holds a position, however, "who types up the position paper is not significant," he said. "It happens all the time."
