Seek And Destroy File Sharing

The best minds in the music and technology industries have been searching for a solution to prevent the piracy of copyright music from the Internet. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has an answer: Those caught repeatedly illegally downloading music will have their hard drives blown up.

Hatch made the suggestion during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on copyright abuse and the Internet. The senator, who is chairman of the committee, said that he was interested in developing technology that can remotely wipe out or destroy users' hard drives when they try to illegally obtain music files and other digital copyright material on the Web. Hatch said during the hearing that if a drastic measure such as his idea was the only way to prevent illegal downloading, "then I'm all for destroying their machines."

Hatch issued a statement on his own Web site following the controversial committee hearing, noting that, "I do not favor extreme remedies--unless no moderate remedies can be found."

Legal experts have reportedly said that such technology would violate the government's own federal antihacking laws. So it's not likely to become public policy anytime soon.

Perhaps Hatch is looking out for No. 1: He himself is in the music business. He's been playing and writing religious and patriotic songs since his college years and has cut numerous albums. In fact, Hatch's songs were recently covered by members of Utah's first family, the Osmonds. Still, we don't suspect illegal downloading is much of a problem for Hatch.