Posted on 06/17/2003 2:54:06 PM PDT by Jean S
WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.
The surprise remarks by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, during a hearing on copyright abuses represent a dramatic escalation in the frustrating battle by industry executives and lawmakers in Washington against illegal music downloads.
During a discussion on methods to frustrate computer users who illegally exchange music and movie files over the Internet, Hatch asked technology executives about ways to damage computers involved in such file trading. Legal experts have said any such attack would violate federal anti-hacking laws.
"No one is interested in destroying anyone's computer," replied Randy Saaf of MediaDefender Inc., a secretive Los Angeles company that builds technology to disrupt music downloads. One technique deliberately downloads pirated material very slowly so other users can't.
"I'm interested," Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights."
The senator acknowledged Congress would have to enact an exemption for copyright owners from liability for damaging computers. He endorsed technology that would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."
"If we can find some way to do this without destroying their machines, we'd be interested in hearing about that," Hatch said. "If that's the only way, then I'm all for destroying their machines. If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize" the seriousness of their actions, he said.
"There's no excuse for anyone violating copyright laws," Hatch said.
Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who has been active in copyright debates in Washington, urged Hatch to reconsider. Boucher described Hatch's role as chairman of the Judiciary Committee as "a very important position, so when Senator Hatch indicates his views with regard to a particular subject, we all take those views very seriously."
Some legal experts suggested Hatch's provocative remarks were more likely intended to compel technology and music executives to work faster toward ways to protect copyrights online than to signal forthcoming legislation.
"It's just the frustration of those who are looking at enforcing laws that are proving very hard to enforce," said Orin Kerr, a former Justice Department cybercrimes prosecutor and associate professor at George Washington University law school.
The entertainment industry has gradually escalated its fight against Internet file-traders, targeting the most egregious pirates with civil lawsuits. The Recording Industry Association of America recently won a federal court decision making it significantly easier to identify and track consumers - even those hiding behind aliases - using popular Internet file-sharing software.
Kerr predicted it was "extremely unlikely" for Congress to approve a hacking exemption for copyright owners, partly because of risks of collateral damage when innocent users might be wrongly targeted.
"It wouldn't work," Kerr said. "There's no way of limiting the damage."
Last year, Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., ignited a firestorm across the Internet over a proposal to give the entertainment industry new powers to disrupt downloads of pirated music and movies. It would have lifted civil and criminal penalties against entertainment companies for disabling, diverting or blocking the trading of pirated songs and movies on the Internet.
But Berman, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary panel on the Internet and intellectual property, always has maintained that his proposal wouldn't permit hacker-style attacks by the industry on Internet users.
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On the Net: Sen. Hatch: http://hatch.senate.gov
AP-ES-06-17-03 1716EDT
What's next??? The dems get into power and blow up our computers for participating in FR???? Or listening to Rush 24/7?????
Hey Hatch, I sure hope you were not serious about this ..
If you try to destroy peoples computers .. You my Dear Senator WILL be voted out of office
Exactly. I'm astounded that Hatch is seriously proposing this. I thought he might have a clue based on some of his comments about problems with the DMCA, but apparently not.
As an attorney and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hatch surely is quite be familiar with the concept of due process under the law. Would he be willing to personally indemnify all wrongfully-accused Americans with respect to the unjustified destruction of their computers and the data, records, and work products contained therein?
Hatch is, in my view, one of the sorriest of creatures that make up a subset of my co-religionists, in that he is the prototypical Utah Mormon Weenie of the Mitt Romney genre -- not to be confused with other members of the "Mormon" Church residing in Utah and around the world who simply are living their lives in accordance with the Gospel.
From his prideful attempts at becoming a contemporary music star; to his arrogant demeanor, which I am sorry to say I have observed up-close-and-personal; to his companying with and abetting of the worst of the liberal scum now infesting our republic; to his ongoing metamorphosis into a more-than-liberal RINO, he should be viewed as a disappointment and an embarrassment to his ever-gullible constituency from whose values he continues to diverge.
Hang it up, Orrin, and make people happy with your honestly genuine musical talent......
Great point, I think I would almost enjoy losing everything on my computer-because I'm taking money out of hungry Record Execs mouths, just to take on Orrin Hatch.
To think I respected this guy for fighting for Estrada and Owens, what an absolute moron, and corporate shill.
LOL! That's hilarious.
Are you saying that you can copyright genealogical information? Can history be copyrighted? This is a serious question, because I don't know the law here.
Not actually too difficult. There are a few viruses and worms around that do the trick, if you're unlucky and they bite you on the right day.
But if music companies actually go about writing malware, it will sure be interesting to watch the retaliation ;).
You can always count on Whorin' Atch to say somethin' stoopid.
Copyright © 2003 by Myrddin
Surprise! You've just downloaded a copyrighted work. As the owner of this copyrighted work, I'm now protected by the government for the damage that is currently being done to your computer.
I'll bet the virus writers are just ecstatic at the prospect of hanging a copyright notice on each virus and thumbing their collective noses at Orrin Hatch.
LOL! That's hilarious.
Would you care to clarify your remarks? There is nothing hilarious about that. Unless it is happening to Record Executives, but that goes without saying.
He's probably serious now, but that doesn't mean anything when he gets opposition
"Don't count your Hatch before he chickens", as they say.
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