So the guy who sold pesticides designed to spread the West Nile virus is in the same category as someone who downloads music?

John Ashcroft is every bit as clueless now as he ever has been. Either that, or he thinks WE are clueless. Downloading a Beatles song in NOT in the same class as trying to poison entire cities, regardless of how someone feels about downloading and intellectual properties.

File sharers are not, and never will be, terrorists. To have a blanket task force assigned to this variety of issues is a monumental error in judgement. Or perhaps, an attempt by Ashcroft to make nice with the entertainment industry in an election year.

i can understand a task force to deal with bootleggers who do it on a professional level. the kind of people who operate full-on warehouses to manufacture pirated copies of stuff to sell out of the trunks of cars. as for cracking down on illegal music downloads, maybe if it was possible to walk into a store and find something other than the same plastic shit on a disc that gets forced onto us through tv and radio the music industry might see sales increase.

i'm not a big protagonist for downloading music but keef said it best, it should be used as a large scale listening booth, if you're interested in a group download 2-3 tracks from an album to try it out. 30 second samples don't provide squat unless you're checking out the hook in the newest pop single.

I'm not against any sort of anti-piracy moves per se, but they are packaging this with a force to handle real threats. Such blanket, "one size fits all" posturing is ridiculous, but it typifies Ashcroft's actions.