The federal agencies will be obliged by a law, known as the Federal Agency Data Protection Act, to adopt a reliable strategy against the danger represented by the peer-to-peer file sharing, for the government computers and networks.
In its essence, the law, sponsored by Democrats, is a demand towards the federal agencies to inform the Congress about the "technological" and "nontechnological" methods used for protection when working with peer-to-peer file-sharing programs.
The main concern, expressed by Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform too, is that an uninformed person could use the application and, unaware, share important folders.
Lime Wire, a well-known P2P application, along with a Federal Trade Commission official, said that is all about how the technology is used and by whom.Karen Evans, the federal government's chief information officer declared that in the case of the improperly implemented technology are recommended "any potential changes to the statute be technology-neutral".
The Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) is already dealing with the federal agency’s annual notification on information security plans and risks, the familiar "report card".
Rep. Tom Davis, FISMA's original author, said that Americans will be informed by the federal agencies about the status of their personal information.The director of research for the Sans Institute, Alan Paller, considers that rather than an intense paperwork, agencies need a good management regarding the security.
Tim Bennett, president of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, sustains the newly came bill and the part that refers to peer-to-peer network. There are different sides of the file sharing we need to take into consideration: plenty information, but also viruses and sometimes giving away files, personal things you need.
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