WASHINGTON — Sen. Orrin Hatch and four other senators are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate peer-to-peer computer networks, or P2P, used to share files via the Internet.

They say such systems may violate laws by allowing people to pirate copyrighted music; distribute pornography, often to unwitting P2P users because of misleading labels; and inadvertently allow others to remotely access all files on a user's computer — including sensitive financial, medical or personal files that could aid in identity theft.

"Something is horribly wrong when millions use a product in ways that are illegal, dangerous to them, and dangerous to others," wrote Hatch and Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Ted Stevens, R-Alaska; Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; and Gordon Smith, R-Ore.

They asked the commission to investigate P2P problems, and report to Congress about how it intends to address them — and whether any changes in law are needed.

Hatch has already held hearings on P2P systems, made popular through Web sites such as KaZaA that allow users to share music, to publicize problems. He also gave a speech recently to the National Press Club to warn that youths who use such systems run the risk of inadvertent exposure to child pornography.

In the letter to the FTC, the senators noted that congressional researchers recently found that typing in such words as "Harry Potter," "Pokemon" or "Olsen twins" in indexes for some P2P systems often bring files with pornography, often mislabeled to mislead users into thinking they contain something else.

They wrote that messages they retrieved after typing such innocuous keywords included "adult pornography (34 percent), cartoon pornography (14 percent) and child erotica (7 percent)."

The senators wrote that most problems result from free software "distributed with default settings and other attributes that seem designed to facilitate widespread, ongoing copyright piracy and trafficking in pornography."

They also said, "Many users may not realize that downloading or redistributing infringing works can be a federal crime" — and suggested an FTC probe would bring extra attention to help end it.

"The dangers of file-sharing software are real, and consumers need to be protected," the senators wrote.

"If the designers, publishers, and distributors of file-sharing software have not adequately warned users about the risks of using their software, and are intentionally distributing the software in a manner that increases risks to end-users, then they have endangered their customers — and our children," they wrote.

---

E-mail: lee@desnews.com