"No one is interested in destroying anyone's computer," replied Randy Saaf of MediaDefender Inc., a secretive Los Angeles company that builds technology to disrupt music downloads. One technique deliberately downloads pirated material very slowly so other users can't."I'm interested," Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights."
The senator 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.
I don't have the words to properly express how stupid this is. Illegal downloading is wrong, but that isn't an excuse to destroy someone's property. If someone steals a CD from Best Buy the folks at Best Buy don't have the right to burn the coat the guy hid the CD under, do they?
The best way to stop illegal music downloading is to provide an easy legal way (like iTunes) to download music. Beyond that, downloaders should be prosecuted; the answer isn't vigilante justice.
