[CLUE-Talk] Re: Hatch Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading

[Randy Arabie]

> WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said 
> Tuesday he favors developing new technology to remotely destroy the 
> computers of people who illegally download music from the Internet.
> 
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6241-2003Jun17.html
> 
> Wouldn't that violate existing federal laws against hacking?
> 
> Let's write some more complicated and/or contradictory laws to
> protect the MPAA and the RIAA...rather than fix our intellectual
> property laws!

I've got a few more thoughts on this.

Which computer are they going to destroy?  The one where the IP is 
downloaded from, or the computer where the IP was downloaded to?

What about when the IP is stored on a multi-user system at a University 
or other commercial or public institution?  

Ooops, LSU Law School just had their server destroyed by Columbia 
Records cause a law student there downloaded some mp3's onto it!

Ooops, my website (and all the data) just got wiped out 'cause some guy 
running another website off the same hardware (ie a single server in 
some facility in New Jersey) was *sharing* copyright protected IP.

If kind of law is passed, will we also be obliged to allow Random House 
to destroy the printers/scanners/photocopy machines used to make 
illegal copies of thier publications? 

-- 
Allons Rouler!

Randy
http://www.arabie.org/