"Person caught who stole IDs via Gnutella" - ridiculous p2p bashing

Comment to LimeWire ID theft case.

That means, people who spread child porn were caught because they used public p2p networks (where law enforcement can find them), and instead of thanking LimeWire that they were able to catch a criminal because he was lured in the open (instead of selling the material invisible via the postal service), politicians blame LimeWire for the existence of the material which had existed in the dark long before Gnutella made sharing easy and public.

These people don't become criminals because of LimeWire.

But they get caught because they use it and don't realize that everyone can find what they share and track them down - including the cops.

As soon as the crime is bad enough that the cops inquire at a court to get the data of the criminal internet user, that user can easily be tracked down. It's far less effort than stopping someone from sending illegal material via the postal service.

So LimeWire and public p2p help the cops.

That ID theft case is even weaker. It is as if we'd ban cars because some people forget to lock them - or ban wallets because some people lose them (including their ID). The main difference is that you have to actively disable security to lose your ID via LimeWire while your wallet just slips out.

Somehow I smell other motivations than stopping crimes here...