Technology officials in Texas are planning to “restrict” the use of p2p file-sharing applications within agencies, departments, boards and commissions.

An April 5 executive order from governor Rick Perry orders the state Department of Information Resources to, “devise a policy prohibiting the unauthorized or illegal use of such software programs and also permitting their use for government business and law enforcement purposes that won’t pose a risk to computer systems,” says FCW.com.

According to Perry, “without adequate protections and procedures in place, the use of peer-to-peer file-sharing software can result in the presence of viruses and malicious programs on state information management system computers and networks, and consume network resources, resulting in the creation of inefficiencies in the performance of those systems.”

A statewide policy wouldn’t apply to the legislative and judicial branches or to the state’s constitutional officers, although they could adopt it, the executive order states.

Nor are US states the only ones to launch bans on p2p apps.
Via p2pnet.net