The RIAA just won what is likely to be a landmark case in establishing the criteria for proving intent in serving copyrighted music over P2P networks. The RIAA has brought thousands of cases against individual users - this was the first one to go to a jury trial. And it raises the stakes surrounding any organization’s liability for ignoring P2P usage on their network.

This is best illustrated by example. I was reminded of a recent issue with an 8e6 customer that Tech Support brought me in on.

Our web filter blocks peer-to-peer applications via packet signatures. There are lots of good reasons to block P2P, but this customer purchased our product because their CIO was receiving emails like this (selected excerpts):

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