[dts32041]

He is still po'ed that word perfect went to Canada. And nobody has put his album into MP3 Format.

[RetiredArmy]

Like, this is a joke? Correct? He can't be serious? You just destroy a thousands of dollars computer for downloading a stupid song? Right. Sure.

[groanup]

These guys are trying to stop a freight train by putting a glass jar on the track. It won't work. Somebody will just figure out a way to bypass the bad files.

[Buckwheats]

He's a fruitcake. What a disgrace to intelligence.

[Orangedog]

"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.

And it will be hard to drum up any sympathy for the republicans when they lose control of the senate again. Between crap like this and the $400 welfare checks to non-taxpayers they had to push through, they won't be running things for long.

[frithguild]

Well, that's one was to spur high tech capex. No wonder why the Seagate stock chart looks so bullish.

[lelio]

I say more power to him. Let him blow up a couple of computers out there, and then the world will migrate away from crappy pop music put out by the label cabal towards MP3.
Orrin is MP3's best friend here. Just like Microsoft clamping down on licensing helps linux when people get fed up with the current situation.

[jpl]

I would love to know how one goes about remotely "destroying a computer". Are they going to send a super-high voltage charge along the power lines directly into someone's home?

[Arkie2]

Sometimes I read something a Republican says and I wonder why I vote for them. This is a truly stupid statement. What a jackass.

[El Gato]

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.

Does the good senator, and Clinton apologist, think that computers explode or at least shoot out sparks and smoke, when something bad happens in the software? If so, he's been watching too much cinematic sci-fi.

The very most that could happen is that the hard drive could be wiped. (i.e. somehow execute a DOS commnad FORMAT C:\. Be a bother, but if the music pirate had merely backed up his hard drive to some external media, he'd not be "hurt" at all. I would think the sale of external hard drives, which could be disconnected when not being used to backup the regular drive, would skyrocket. Of course you'd have to run a malicious virus scan just before doing the backup. :)

Then they'd probably make possession of an external hard drive in conjunction with a high capacity virus checker a federal felony.

[Tench_Coxe]

""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. "

Even better, track down the offenders and have them summarily executed. People would then really realize the serious of the actions.

or.....

Load them all on a ship and send them to Australia, for no crime could be more heinous than downloading a file, including perjury before a grand jury or selling military secrets to the Chinese for campaign donations. ( Just a reference for you folks, 'criminals'were sent to Oz for things such as stealing a loaf of bread or a book )

[Myrddin]

Just wait until they destroy a computer and the owner takes them to court to PROVE the copyright violation. If the computer is destroyed, there may not be evidence to prove the violation. There will be liability for damage to the equipment and damage to the business interests of the party who owned the damaged computer. I hope the jerks have real deep pockets. My typical computer has a hardware worth arount $4,000 and software in the range of $3,000 to $5,000. The billable labor for software development time lost (at $175/hour) and loss of business opportunities due to missed delivery dates could add up to a real big pile of money. Far in excess of the fine for a single alleged copyright violation.

[OpusatFR]

Is he bonkers? Remote destruction of a PC?

What is going on with this government anymore?

[freeeee]

There are two and only two possibilities here:

1. Hatch wants the government to destroy downloader's computers. Of course there won't be anything resembling due process, so we have a blatant and egregious 5th Amendment violation. But then that kind of thing never really bothered Hatch.

2. Hatch wants music companies to destroy computers. And that's blatant vigilantism.

[rs79bm]

Normally I like Hatch, but he fell off the cliff on this one. So, let's say for example you have a friend who likes to come over and downloads songs onto your computer. You happen to be a the president of a company, and you store gigabytes worth of company data on your computer. Under Hatch's theory, this is fair game for total destruction?

[Don Corleone]

FOLLOW THE MONEY

[JustAnAmerican]

I am starting to realize with each passing day that what a lot of folks are saying is true. The line between Dim and Republican is becoming blurred.

[Question_Assumptions]

Next up? Replacing red light cameras with computer controlled gattling guns to take the car away from the person running the red light.

Old Orrin may want to read the bit in the Constitution about depriving people of life, liberty, or property without due process.

[bvw]

Senator Hatch has stood the Constitution's copyright clause on its head. The Founder's allowed for a limited copyright in the hope that it would encourage "Science and the Useful Arts" . Pay heed: the term USEFUL ARTS does not mean "art" -- entertainment -- rather it means in todays equivalent sense: Technology and Engineering!

Music, theater, plays, novels and newspapers were around in that period, and the theater was moneymaking. The intent of copyright was NOT to protect them.

The intent was to protect technology. Now HATCH has had enough of freedom, and favors the merchant nobility that has generations past been granted their titles of "copyright" nobility. All hail the Duke of Mickey Mouse! All hail the Earl of "Happy Birthday to You"!

[muawiyah]

Ah, yes, damage someone's computer for downloading someone else's copyrighted material without permission!

Does Hatch realize exactly how much of that stuff in the Mormon genealogical archives has been purloined from copyrighted books and articles?

I thought Mormons were supposed to work on genealogy as part of their religious practice and here's Orin Hatch, just about the highest ranking elected Mormon in America, and he's saying "destroy their computers".

I think this one is going to have to go back to the workshop for a complete overhaul!