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US Senator would destroy MP3 traders' PCs

By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 18/06/2003 at 14:57 GMT

The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah), thinks it would be a fabulous idea if copyright owners could remotely destroy computers that contain pirated material, the Associated Press reports.

"I'm all for destroying their machines," Hatch said during a Committee hearing Tuesday. "'If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize' the seriousness of their actions," the wire service quotes him as saying.

This would involve creating new legislation to exempt copyright owners from old-fashioned laws that make it a crime to destroy other people's property, and from somewhat newer computer trespass and misuse statutes as well.

Such legislation would be in line with US Representative Howard Berman (Democrat, California) and his vision of allowing copyright owners and their agents to hack computer systems where copyright violations might be going on. Hatch would simply take it a bit further, permitting copyright owners to take overtly malicious action.

While there may soon be an excuse for willful destruction of property, "there's no excuse for anyone violating copyright laws," Hatch explained.

We can't quite picture the sort of attack our visionary Utah Senator has in mind. Obviously there is little danger of actually destroying a PC remotely; in spite of great advances in malware, it remains the sort of business for which a hatchet comes in most handy. You could wipe the HDD or re-flash the BIOS remotely, but victims can recover from this sort of thing.

Benefit of the doubt

One has to wonder how much evidence of wrongdoing a copyright owner would need before their exemption from prosecution would kick in. Would they have to maintain copious records of their investigations and findings? Or would they be granted a blanket benefit of the doubt and therefor not have to justify it at all? And what happens when an innocent person is victimized? If their HDD were wiped by some malicious program, they would have an awful time seeking a legal remedy with no data to challenge the media pigopolists' evidence.

Perhaps Hatch is imagining of some sort of Mission-Impossible-style DRM self-destruct regime, possibly one mandated by a law like the one contemplated by Senator Fritz Hollings (Democrat, South Carolina) known as the CBDTPA.

A mandatory DRM scheme of this sort could monitor the copyright status of content being accessed, and after a set number of 'violations' sabotage the PC with a Hatch attack. To further inconvenience copyright miscreants, the DRM mechanism could be tied to some sort of Win-XP-style 'product activation' discipline, possibly requiring users to purchase and install a new copy of their operating system to regain full control of their computers.

Or perhaps Congress will realize that Hatch is talking utter nonsense and ignore his bizarre suggestion. It all depends on how much money the MPAA and RIAA lobbyists can slip into the pockets of their Congressional lapdogs. Citizens are welcome to e-mail Senator Hatch here to offer him their kind words of support. ®

Congressman pocketed $18,000 for RIAA 'lobbying trip'

By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco
Posted: 17/07/2003 at 23:05 GMT
The powerful Congressman at the center of the controversy over royalty rates for small webcasters took $18,000 from the Recording Industry Association of America.

As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbrenner was instrumental in forcing the deal that could result in an antitrust suit against the RIAA being filed by small webcasters.

The trouble is, Congressmen are forbidden from taking private donations to lobby abroad. Sensennbrenner recorded the visit to Taiwan and Thailand back in January, as a "fact finding mission".

According to the House Ethics Committee's advisory booklet on Gifts and Travel, "Members and staff may not accept expenses from a private source for travel the primary purpose of which is to conduct official business."

"If he's dictating policy, he should be a representative of the United States, not the RIAA," Boycott-RIAA founder Bill Evans told us.

The RIAA has confirmed that the purpose of Sensenbrenner's paid-for jaunt was one of exposition: "so they understand that this is a unified message coming from all levels of the U.S. government," according to an RIAA spokesperson.

"His own description belies that it was a 'fact-finding' trip," says Gary Ruskin, of the Congressional Accountability Project watchdog.

$18,000 can go a long way in Thailand. Sensenbrenner's brief trip was for just five days. Three months before his five-day RIAA-sponsored trip, Sensenbrenner surprised observers by taking a close interest in the Small Webcasters Settlement Act (HR.5469) which morphed from the anticipated six-month cooling off period into a bill specifying detailed rates and conditions, which many small webcasters found unpalatable. According to participants in the negotiations, Sensenbrenner forced the webcasters to come up with a royalty settlement with the RIAA, threatening to use his staff to write the terms instead. Contacted by The Register this week, Sensenbrenner's office referered us to the House Judiciary Committee.

"It's not for us to say the rule was violated, but the House Ethics Committee should investigate, Ruskin told The Register. However, the Committee can only investigate the representative if asked to so by a fellow Congressman.

Boycott-RIAA and the Webcaster Alliance have produced an electronic form and urge music lovers to fax their Congressional representative so that an investigation can begin. You can find it here.

[Momaw Nadon]

This is insanity!

[SerpentDove]

>>"I'm all for destroying their machines," Hatch said during a Committee hearing Tuesday. "'If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize' the seriousness of their actions," the wire service quotes him as saying.<<

Sic Semper Tyrannus

[Husker24]

Why doesnt the government just cut the middle man and just execute everyone except Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

[EggsAckley]

In my opinion, the suckers who downloaded from KaZaa have already been punished by being hit with the klez-bug that accompanied the tunes. My friend's kid did that, and we managed to see quite a few infected computers. I still can't access Word, and my scanner just flips me off.

*Wondering if Hatch is the one who planted the virus?*

[steplock]

bump

[Dante3]

Amazing! We have the resources to go after people who have downloaded one song. Yet no one is lifting a finger in deporting the terrorists/rapist/illegal aliens.

[BILL FROM TROUT CREEK PASS]

WAKE UP AMERICA! THE US CONGRESS WANTS TO PUT YOUR CHILDREN IN JAIL!

[Question_Assumptions]

Such a law, if enforced, would last one election cycle and the sponsors wouldn't know what hit them.

[MarkL]

Look, let's just get it over with... If you download a copyrighted song, the penalty should be to put that person to death, confiscate all his or her property, then sell the person's entire family into indentured servitude for not less than 8 generations... What's the problem?

Mark

[BenR2]

Our LORD said something about swallowing the camel and straining at the gnat.

The camel would be illegal immigration and gun control; the gnat would be file sharing. (IMHO.)

[xrp]

YES! Let's imprison even MORE non-violent criminals! Most of the people downloading songs are teens-mid 30s. Just hook them up with tons of community service cleaning cigarette butts along the side of the road and the word will get out.

[Kozak]

Gee, I wonder how hard it would be for smart hacker to spoof the old congressman and make it look like he was trading files, maybe some kiddie porn? Just a thought.

[mhking]

Our borders are unsecured, AQ animals are chomping at the bit to kill Americans both home and abroad, gangs are in the streets, drug dealers are on street corners, our schools are going to pot, and all Hatch can worry about is people downloading music!?

WTF?!?!?!?

[mhking]

Our borders are unsecured, AQ animals are chomping at the bit to kill Americans both home and abroad, gangs are in the streets, drug dealers are on street corners, our schools are going to pot, and all Hatch can worry about is people downloading music!?

WTF?!?!?!?

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

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