A free download called Parent File Scan is the latest weapon in the Motion Picture Association of America's efforts to curb P2P file sharing.
The software, from DtecNet Software Apps, scans a PC and searches out P2P file sharing applications. It also roots out music and video files. It then gives the user a comprehensive list of the files it turned up, along with the option of removing the software and media files. (You can select which files are deleted and which aren't.)
The application doesn't claim to be infallible in finding P2P applications or media files. It isn't. In our brief testing, while Parent File Scan did find almost all the music and video files on our testbed, but missed a pair of obscure P2P clients.
Parent File Scan "does not distinguish between legal and illegal copies."
Case in point, the 1359 music files it found on our test system are all legal files created from the owner's CD collection.
How do you determine which files are legal and which aren't?
Parent File Scan offers that "You must clarify this question for yourself."
How? By "discussing with the persons who have used the computer where the music and video files are found."
There's gonna be a lot of lectures tonight from parents that are terrified that their child's downloading habit will end them up in lawsuit.
You can download Parent File Scan for free from RespectCopyrights.org
For more on the Motion Picture Association of America.
For more Digital Rights Management stories, check out ExtremeDRM.
Copyright © 2005 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in ExtremeTech.
