The use of peer-to-peer networks for sharing files has come under fire during recent months, including the dismantling of Swedish BitTorrent site Pirate Bay, but it turns out even members of Congress need to be kept in check over their file-sharing practices.

Congress on Tuesday introduced the Secure Federal File Sharing Act, which would restrict the use of peer-to-peer file sharing software like Limewire among federal employees.

The new legislation follows multiple embarrassing leaks of sensitive government information by means of open file sharing networks, including the location of a safe house for the First Family, financial files belonging to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, the electronic schematics to President Obama’s helicopter, and a list of 30 lawmakers currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.

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Hulu caused quite a stir this week when, at the request of rights holders, it shut down Boxee’s access to its streaming video platform. While many discussed the business implications of this move, some are ready to do more than just talk about it. One reader wrote to tell us that he’s gonna stop using Hulu altogether and go back to downloading TV shows via BitTorrent. Lifehacker editor Adam Pash apparently had the same idea, given his post entitled “How to Get Hulu Content on TV Without Hulu’s Help.”

Granted, so far this is all just anecdotal evidence. Chances are the move will cost Boxee more users than Hulu in the near term. However, these aren’t the only dark clouds on the horizon of Hululand; longer ad breaks and old media conflicts could turn people off Hulu-like streaming video platforms. Piracy, on the other hand, is getting easier and easier every day, with torrent sites and other unlicensed platforms just waiting to embrace Hulu renegades. Maybe it’s time to send the following memo to Hollywood: You can still blow this thing.

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Worried that your broadband provider is slowing down your Web traffic?

If so, you might want to download the aptly named “Switzerland”–a tool that tests whether your Internet provider is violating the principles of so-called “network neutrality.”

Network neutrality, which prevents carriers from blocking traffic or manipulating the speeds of traffic from certain Web sites, became a hot-button issue several years ago when carriers suggested they should be allowed to charge content providers more for using faster lanes on their networks.

The issue resurfaced last summer when the FCC determined that Comcast (CMCSA) had interfered with its subscribers’ use of a file-sharing technology, called BitTorrent, a free application used to distribute sometimes large software and media files. Comcast is contesting the ruling.

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If you thought that federal regulators were upset at Comcast’s throttling of BitTorrent, wait until they start scrutinizing what wireless providers are doing. Comcast’s offense was merely to slow or abort some BitTorrent transfers. AT&T Wireless goes much further and flatly bans all “peer-to-peer file sharing” and “downloading movies.” Verizon Wireless’s terms of service also single out P2P applications.

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Comcast came clean with the Federal Communications Commission late Friday, detailing how it throttled and targeted peer-to-peer traffic–maneuvers it has repeatedly denied.

The cable concern said it indeed hit “particular protocols that were generating disproportionate amounts of traffic.” The peer-to-peer protocols, Comcast said, include Ares, BitTorrent, eDonkey, FastTrack and Gnutella–vehicles used to transport copyrighted material without the owners’ permission.

On Aug. 1, when the FCC ordered it to abandon its throttling practices, Comcast denied that it was blocking any services, including “peer-to-peer services” like BitTorrent, or engaged in any blocking of services.

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Comcast Corp. rightfully received a smackdown from the Federal Communications Commission last week for not telling customers that it was blocking some of them from using peer-to-peer services to download videos and other content off the Internet.

Web surfers may want to pause before cheering, though, as some are warning that the move could lead the way to Internet metering–under which people would be charged based on their usage levels instead of the traditional flat rate.

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The music industry should embrace illegal file-sharing Web sites, according to a study of Radiohead’s last album release that found huge numbers of people downloaded it illegally even though the band allowed fans to pay little or nothing for it. “Rights-holders should be aware that these non- traditional venues are stubbornly entrenched, incredibly popular and will never go away,” said Eric Garland, co-author of the study, which concluded there was strong brand loyalty to controversial “torrent” and peer-to-peer services.

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The Federal Communications Commission’s order last Friday in the Comcast-BitTorrent dispute should help ensure that today’s broadband networks remain open platforms to the Internet. But more broadly, the recent attention on Comcast–and on Time Warner’s recently launched trial of “consumption-based billing”–raises the question: what is a reasonable approach for broadband networks to manage their Internet traffic?

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Like millions of other Americans and many of New York City’s “bridge and tunnel” crowd, I live in the ‘burbs. While I do a great deal of travel for my full-time job, I am also classified as a “mobile” employee, so I’m not formally attached to an office–I’ve been issued a company laptop and they pay my monthly broadband, cellular and phone bills, which are in the form of an AT&T (T) Callvantage VOIP account.

Currently, I’m a cable modem subscriber. I pay approximately $65 per month for Optimum Online’s boost plan, which gives you up to 5Mbps/30Mbps in theoretical upstream and downstream bandwidth. In practice, however, I’ve become accustomed to a number of service interruptions, where my broadband can go down for hours at a time, and days where the local XBOX kiddies and torrenters are clearly over-saturating the network. But I tolerate this because I have very few options for broadband in my immediate area.

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A whole bunch of folks have sent in the “debate” that was held on the BBC Web site last week, starting with regular columnist Bill Thompson trashing Virgin Media, a U.K.-based broadband provider, for agreeing to send out warning “notices” to folks that the entertainment industry claims are file sharing. Thompson explains that he’s been known to use BitTorrent to get a copy of a TV show he missed on TV and forgot to record on his DVR, wondering why this should be a problem.

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I hate to break this to you and risk damaging the relationship of trust and faith that you have with your cable company, but according to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Comcast has not been totally forthright in describing its handling of bandwidth-sucking BitTorrent transfers of large media files. Ever since it was caught using surreptitious, hacker-like techniques to interrupt such activity, the cable giant has claimed that it was simply exercising sound network management practices to ensure decent service for all, and that the throttling was applied only in times of high network congestion. Tuesday, Martin told a Senate committee that his agency’s ongoing investigation indicated otherwise.

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Comcast recently announced a deal with BitTorrent that left me dazed and confused. It was basically a roundabout way for the cable company to backtrack from its P2P traffic-blocking gaffe. In describing the deal, Comcast tried to shift the focus away from their so-called “network management” — and by extension, the limitations of their network that prompted them to resort to traffic manipulation in the first place. On Friday, I caught up with Tony Werner, chief technology officer of Comcast Cable, to get the real skinny.

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The race is on to get the last word in on the Comcast/BitTorrent controversy. With 10 days left to file, telcos, trade and advocacy groups are sending the Federal Communications Commission their statements on whether Comcast and other ISPs purposefully degrade peer-to-peer traffic, and if so, what to do about it. Not surprisingly, the debate pits broadband content providers and advocacy groups against the big telcos, cable companies and their trade association backers.

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Comcast, the second largest Internet service provider in the country, is making the controversial and aggressive case that Internet service providers should be allowed to serve as traffic cops on the Internet. In an 80-page filing with the Federal Communications Commission yesterday, the company says it has a right to clamp down on the use of peer-to-peer file-sharing programs on its network to preserve the smooth flow of bits to and from all its customers. The filing was in response to an FCC complaint from network neutrality groups in November after the Associated Press revealed that Comcast was stopping some customers from using BitTorrent, a file-sharing program often used to swap copyrighted copies of songs and movies over the Internet.

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Paulo Coelho, the best-selling author of “The Alchemist,” is using BitTorrent and other file-sharing networks as a way to promote his books. His publishers weren’t too keen on giving away free copies of his books, so he’s taken matters into his own hands. Coelho’s view is that letting people swap digital copies of his books for free increases sales.

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