Calling on the lazyweb

Sorry. Everything else is RIAA press releases in disguise :-).

Seriously, there’s tons of bloviation on property-theft-stealing-artists-hackers-etc-etc.

Are you looking for something in particular which makes most of the obvious stuff unsuitable?

Nobody is against the various P2P protocols in themselves, just like nobody is against FTP or RTSP. (Well, some people prefer one to another for reasons of efficiency, privacy, or file availability, but I doubt you meant this.)

Some people might be disapprove of certain P2P applications which contain spyware or adware, but this isn’t the sort of thing academics write papers about.

I think what you are looking for is arguments against piracy or in support of intellectual property rights. These aren’t hard to find.

Yes, here it is:

‘He who shares my file has lifted up his heel against me.’

— the direct proof of the wickedness of file-sharing.

Perhaps the problem is your blogroll, where I note the v-conspirator and L-Solum: one needs to take the corporate view in these matters if one is to aspire to hearing the burnished western boardroom view. And while Volokh and Solum might support the contra-p2p view, they downplay it on their websites.
Now, I would ask myself why would p2p be the essence?–aha, of course, the students: these are impecunious youth among whom one benefit of p2p is its baseline thriftiness; of course, there are other paradigms, as in iconoclastic youth sharing their generation’s own music.
To reply to your point, I had a strange disaffected reaction upon visiting a tech site whereat editors, in the true tradition of editors everywhere mostly, were grasping at paeans for the corporate sponsors at http://arstechnica.com/index.ars
That site has a blog that is comprised somewhat of a lot of hackers impressing each other with acronyms and knowledge of rude verbal expressions; but the site’s demographic also includes attorneys and engineers; quite a pot pourri of intellect; so the blog host can be knowledgeable of tech, but need not provide a modern liberal viewpoint, and may opt to let the participants provide that proletarian flavor; and rest assured they provide quite a lively and informed blog. I discovered the site during the first blush after the datamining government snooping scandal appeared in the media last month; arstecnica was full of nonchalant observations that this stuff has been around for ten years so what’s-the-surprise. There were some more cerebral viewpoints on that topic amid the long threads of blogdom there. The site’s frontpage, however, is a mix of silicon valley news, editorial content, and the like; and there are some opinions there taking the view of the corporate defender of intellectual property. You might try a google search for Sony + p2p; I think Sony recently issued a corporate commentary in the matter of its DVD crypto key software’s having a DOS-attack bug, wherefore finally they have announced they will discontinue use of that particular scheme of copy protection; but in their rhetoric there may be some diplomatic words espousing the profitmaking view which you are attempting to find. I am not sure the consumer branch of Sony is as sophisticated as its electronics test divisions, but you might find some suitable solid corporate law views there. Of course, Findlaw is replete with copyright advocacy; their site is redesigned, and it takes a little clicking to find your discussion area. They use flowery language, though; may be ill suited to your classwork; depends on your students’ profile.
In a humorous view: How about checking the website of the US Trade representative: he is on the record as defending US intellectual property interests in tough bargaining ongoing in the Far East, recently in the WTO talks; and obtained great concessions in that regard while Korean farmers protested along the pier. It is a classic negotiation issue between Singapore and the US, as well.
Well, I thought it was funny.
John L.

You might check out the online writings of Robert Fripp, the guitarist and founder of the “progressive rock” outfit King Crimson. Fripp is a mighty articulate and persuasive fellow, and as I recall he takes a dim view of things like filesharing, etc. You can take a look at his diary on the Discipline Mobile Global website (his record company).

Jerome Langguth

Try Stanley Liebowitz…

I half-wrote a long post on this very topic, which leaned heavily on posts from the punk rock musicians Dr. Frank and Ben Weasel. (They’re aganst it.) I never finished my own post, but here’s Ben Weasel: (1) and (2). And here’s Dr. Frank: (1), (2) and (3).

Enough of this casuistry, abb1! It is the inention in the heart that matters, not the mere accidental effects.

As St Gates of Redmond wrote “He that installeth non-conforming software, though he avoid actual the heinous sin of its use, hath wilfully exposed himself to the occasion of sin. The lord shall be pissed and smite him with unexplained hangs.” The point is that wilful exposure to the occasion of sin is a sin in itself.