Here’s an excerpt from a story already making waves in which Republican doofus Orrin Hatch says he wants to allow copyright holders to destroy the computers of people who illegally download copyrighted music and other files. Hatch made the remarks during a Congressional hearing on copyright.
The hearings discussed a proposed bill that would have allowed copyright holders to legally hack the computers of people who are illegally downloading files. Randy Saaf of MediaDefender Inc. was trying to dismiss criticism of such proposals by saying that “No one is interested in destroying anyone’s computer.” At which point Hatch begged to differ,
“I’m interested,” Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone’s computer “may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights.” The senator, a composer who earned $18,000 last year in song writing royalties, 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.
That’s reminiscent of Newt Gingrich’s call for the death penalty for anyone convicted of smuggling more than two ounces of marijuana into the United States. Some people are law-and-order Republicans. Gingrich and Hatch, however, are law-and-order-and-stupidity-thrown-in-for-good-measure Republicans.
Source:
Hatch Takes Aim at Illegal Downloading. Associated Press, June 17, 2003.