As the Grokster case approaches the Supreme Court the "friends" of the court briefs (called amicus curiae) are flying.

The best is the technical brief, from a host of distinguished computer scientists including Dave Farber of Carnegie-Mellon (and the Interesting People list).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted a PDF copy.

The short version. If a law against software is strong enough to do good it will do harm. And if it's weak enough not to do harm it can't possibly do any good. Thus the Sony vs. Betamax "test," that technology is legal if it can be used for legal purposes, should be upheld.

A few details after the break:

1. The Internet is a P2P network, and has been since its formation. Making such things illegal makes the Internet illegal.
2. Mandating software inside the network slows it down and keeps it from scaling as it must.
3. Making law against software does far more harm to innovation than the present system.
4. Anonymity is already impossible. The copyright industries are already using IP addresses to find people and sue them for infringement.

A few more points. If Congress or the courts decide that copyright trumps innovation, then innovation can move elsewhere. And if you want to overthrow tyrants -- in Iran, in Syria, or in Saudi Arabia -- the best means at your disposal is software.