Hatch: Download pirated data, see your computer destroyed

Computerworld - U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) wants to teach cyberpirates a lesson by destroying their computers if they illegally download copyright-protected material like music or movies.
Hatch, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, first brought up the idea at a June 17 hearing on copyright abuses.
At the time, the committee was hearing from witnesses about the dangers of using peer-to-peer file-sharing services. Some users have inadvertently allowed access to their entire hard drives by other peer-to-peer users, exposing financial documents and medical data, witnesses said.
However, after Hatch's proposal was criticized as "Draconian" by Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), the ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee, Hatch backed off a bit from his initial hard-line stance.
In a statement issued yesterday, Hatch said he merely wants to push private industry to come up with solutions to unauthorized file trading. "I am very concerned about Internet piracy of personal and copyrighted materials, and I want to find effective solutions to these problems," he said. "I do not favor extreme remedies -- unless no moderate remedies can be found. I have asked interested industries to help us find those moderate remedies."
Hatch's office couldn't be reached for additional comment today.
Destroying someone's computer may not be feasible, according to Pete Lindstrom, research director at Malvern, Pa.-based Spire Security LLC, and extreme remedies could pose problems for corporate users. "The $64,000 question is, How do you address liability if [an employee] is illegally downloading something at work? The person with the deepest pockets most likely will be liable."
Lindstrom, as well as an IT executive at a Maryland computer services company who asked not to be identified, said the idea might not become an issue because most companies access the Internet through a series of firewalls to protect their assets. That would make destroying one difficult as long as it's properly secured.
Lindstrom said copyright issues should be resolved before any extreme remedies are implemented and noted that using a company computer for noncompany business is something that can be cause for action against an employee, up to and including termination and some other legal recourse.
Other IT executives were more concerned about the prospect.
"Depending what is on that PC, it could be very costly or even disastrous," said Mehdi Shahpar, systems manager at United Parcel Service Inc. in Mahwah, N.J.
"Those people that are downloading illegal material at work would cause a lot of problems for their companies if their machines were fried out," said Frank Webb, an IT managerat American International Group Inc., an insurance and financial services company in Jersey City, N.J.
Webb said the person doing the downloading, rather than the company for which that person works, would be held responsible for a particular machine.
The IDG News Service contributed to this report.

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