Texas Governor wants stricter P2P policy

Texas Governor Rick Perry has given an executive order for state agencies to stop using Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file transfer programs. Executive order RP58 was effective on 5 April, 2006 and asks the state’s Department of Information Resources to develop a policy prohibiting illegal P2P usage on state computers.

Perry provides several reasons why illegal P2P usage should be prohibited ; the order also includes multiple references to P2P software being used for piracy. P2P software "results in significant losses of revenue to the entertainment industry inside and outside the State of Texas," says the order. In addition, Perry says the state has a responsibility to prevent "fraud, piracy and theft".

While P2P definitely has been used to distribute pirated software, music and videos, there is an increasing trend to use the technology for legal business. Skype distributes VoIP phone calls through a P2P network and several software vendors use P2P to push out new games and operating systems. Perry’s order makes no mention of using P2P for legitimate reasons.

No timeline was given in the order and RP58 does not apply to legislative and judicial branches of government. In addition, constitutional officers of Texas are exempt.