He wants to do WHAT?!
I read this today, and I suddenly realized that this moron was part of my own government…
Why is it that the people who know the least about technology are always the ones who try to fix it? I mean, we can’t control the malicious destruction of PC’s by outside sources as it is! But this guy wants to include a means to do it legally?! Holy Hard-drives, Batman! Does Senator Hatch think that hackers are just going to ignore an opportunity like this? It’s akin to living in downtown LA, and leaving your front door open with a big sign outside that says, “Gone on vacation for two weeks.” Hellloooo!!?? Anyone home in there Senator??
But the worst part is that this guy isn’t some crackpot religious moralist, he’s the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee! He’s part of a team that actually makes policy regarding me and my life! AHHH! Run away!
If he wants to solve the problem, why not take a hint from Apple. Instead of fighting a system that has more momentum than Mount Vesuvius, just roll with it. Find out what the public wants, and give it to them… cheap.
Consumers are tired of paying for an entire album when they really only like one or two songs. They feel especially cheated if the rest of the album sucks, which, with most of todays bands, is more often the case than not.
So Apple gives people that one song. For a buck. Pretty sweet if you ask me. I might pay a dollar for a single song instead of pirating it, so long as I could freely use it anywhere I wanted. Apple has blown it in that they have buckled to the panicked music industry and integrated restrictions that only allow you to copy it to a certain number of drives, etc… Can you say stuuupiiiid? It blows the whole point of doing it this way. You’re counting on the fact that people would rather pay a dollar than take the time and energy to find and download a copy on the pirate nets. And they are probably right… but not if the copy I get is restricted, causing me more frustration and time. No way. Sorry Apple, and sorry Senator. I’ll take my digitally complete and unrestricted music files from the pirate net over your corrupted, restricted, and infected versions anyday.
Bitheads….