Senator's 'Extreme' Piracy Remedy Draws Criticism

Linda Rosencrance   Today’s Top Stories   or  Other Legislation/Regulation Stories  

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June 23, 2003 (Computerworld) -- Users last week said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) apparently failed to consider the corporate implications of his suggestion that cyberpirates should have their computers destroyed if they illegally download copyright-protected material like music and movies.
Destroying an individual's computer may not be feasible, and such an extreme remedy could pose problems for corporate users, said Pete Lindstrom, research director at Malvern, Pa.-based Spire Security LLC.
"The $64,000 question is, how do you address liability if [an employee] is illegally downloading something at work?" Lindstrom said. "The person with the deepest pockets most likely will be liable."
Lindstrom, along with an IT executive at a Maryland computer services company who asked not to be identified, said the issue might be moot, since most companies access the Internet through a series of firewalls to protect their assets.
Disaster in the Making
Other IT executives were more concerned about the prospect of legalizing such a penalty. "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 manager at 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 that person works for, should be held responsible for his actions.
Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, first brought up the idea at a June 17 hearing on copyright abuses. At the time, the committee heard 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, the witnesses said.
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 the next day, 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," Hatch 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 by deadline.
The IDG News Service contributed to this report.

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Senator's 'Extreme' Piracy Remedy Draws Criticism

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