[NBLUG/talk] Senator Orin Hatch proposes..

Jim Bianchi jimbo at sonic.net
Wed Jun 18 13:13:01 PDT 2003


	I heard on KGO radio last night and this morning (Wed, 18 June) a
report about Senator Orin Hatch proposing technological research into the
developing of some method for 'totally destroying' a computer used to
dload music from the internet (violating the copyrights).

	I sent an email to the talk show host pointing out that, if
someone had enough control over the music being dloaded to send a string
that'd activate a self destruct mechanism in the computer, surely they'd
have sufficient control to not offer the stuff in the first place.

	This'd be not at all unlike someone setting out a pile of $100
bills, then standing nearby with a loaded shotgun. (Can you say
"entrapment?")

	Duhh. Esp given that anyone with a website could offer .mp3 or
.wav files of music (sure there'd be a heavy bandwidth penalty, but it
could still be done), this'd mean EVERY computer would have to have a
remotely activated self destruct device in it.

	Not to even mention the constitutional args against this (what
ever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"), there is a very real
liability objection. Of course, the codes would be closely held -- that
is until some fool FBI dude left his laptop somewhere. In spite of that,
hackers would likely find out soon enough how to do it, or at least how
to prevent it being done. What have you gained?

	I can see it now. There sits Eric surfing at his computer. He runs
across a site that seems particularly interesting. Unfortunately, the kid
who runs that site has found out how to activate the self destruct thingy.
Oops. Eric is now the proud owner of a pile of rubble. <grin>

	Or. We've mostly gotten past the BBS days when lion oise (line
noise) often interrupted communications, but it's still out there, folks,
and it's just waiting for the chance to royally screw things up, as when
grama's pooter recieves a signal that is interpreted as a self destruct
signal (but isn't). Boom! Oops. Now where'll the cat sit?

	This must be one of the canonical examples of how vast people
often have half-vast ideas.

-- 
jimbo at sonic.net       Jim Bianchi   Santa Rosa   California

        Eclectic Garbanzo BBS ** (707) 539-1279 ** 28.8kbps

	Remember Flight 93 -- "Let's roll!"






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