Pirate episode of television show downloaded by someone using an IP address assigned to the House of Representatives. (
TorrentFreak)
Even as some of its many members work to
destroy the social internet in the name of stopping online piracy, it turns out that the House of Representatives is
a virtual online pirate kingdom unto itself:
In recent weeks we discovered BitTorrent pirates at the RIAA, Sony, Fox, Universal and even law-abiding organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security. By now it should be clear that people are using BitTorrent pretty much everywhere, and not only for lawful downloads. Today we can add the U.S. House of Representatives to that list, the place where lawmakers are drafting the much discussed “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA). [...]
In total we found more than 800 IP-addresses assigned to the U.S. House of Representatives from where content has been shared on BitTorrent. After a closer inspection it quickly became clear the House isn’t just using it for legitimate downloads either, quite the opposite.
Below we’ll list a few of the 800 hits we found on YouHaveDownloaded, which in turn represent just a fraction of total downloads since the site only tracks a limited percentage of total BitTorrent traffic. Again, this is real and confirmed data that is just as good as the evidence used by the RIAA when they sued tens of thousands of people for file-sharing.
While the hypocrisy here is not surprising, it is kind of funny. The pirated files downloaded at IP addresses assigned to the House of Representatives include not only the typical television shows, computer software and pornography, but also a few titles that seem particularly suited to Capitol Hill culture:
Something that immediately caught our eye are the self-help books that are downloaded in the House. “Crucial Conversations- Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High,” for example, may indeed be of interest to the political elite in the United States. And “How to Answer Hard Interview Questions And Everything Else You Need to Know to Get the Job You Want” may be helpful for those who aspire to higher positions.
At the very least, should Congress should stop its own online pirates before telling others what to do. Send an email to your representative in the House telling him or her to oppose SOPA.