The MPAA and the RIAA are attempting to pass a law allowing them to break into private computers legally to investigate suspicions of piracy.
This, quite frankly, is the most assinine thing I have ever heard. Intellectual property rights are important, but violating one form of property rights to save another is rediculous. Naturally, enough, Ernest Hollings (D-MPAA) is behind this bill, which has attracted the support of many in Congress.
Digital Rights Management is going to be a major blow to property rights, and Congress is complicit with the MPAA and the RIAA in dismantling American’s fair use rights. File sharing may be bad, but the kind of draconian measures that the media industry are proposing are far worse. Piracy is a fact of life in the Internet age, but that doesn’t mean that CD and DVD sales are necessarily suffering due to piracy. The major media companies are still raking money in hand over foot. However, the real danger to groups like the MPAA and RIAA is their own hubris and idiocy.
