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Go West King Baby @ ImprovOlympic West
with Tony Hale, Susan Isaacs, Cathryn Brockett, Eric Matikosh, Ted Rooney, & David van Wert
6366 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, Aug 26 & Sept 9, 8 p.m. $5

Two days ago, Orrin Hatch suggested that technology should be developed to remotely destroy the computers of people who pirate music on the Net. Destroying someone’s computer “may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights,” the Associated Press quoted Hatch as saying.

If that same suggestion applied to software, Hatch’s own website servers would be destroyed. The senator’s website uses a JavaScript menu system by Milonic Solutions, a software company based in the UK. The copyrighted code has not been licensed for use on Hatch’s website. The software’s license stipulates that the user must register the software to receive a licensing code, as well as provide a link in the source code to Milonic’s website.

As of today, Hatch’s site met none of Milonic’s licensing terms. They even removed copyright notices embedded in the code itself. I’m sure Hatch (meaning his webmaster) will hurry to comply with the license terms since being exposed, but here’s the piece by Laurence Simon that uncovered Hatch’s software piracy.

Speaking today at a Senate hearing on copyright issues, Orrin Hatch suggested that technology should be developed to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Net. Destroying someone’s computer “may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights,” the Associated Press quoted Hatch as saying.

Orrin Hatch is a composer himself and earned about $18,000 from his music last year, so I guess it’s personal. “There’s no excuse for anyone violating copyright laws,” Senator Hatch added.

That might be true, but there’s really no excuse for punative action without due process. It’s explicitly forbidden by our Constitution, a document which Hatch has sworn an oath to uphold every time he’s been elected. To hear a U.S. Senator, the head of the Judiciary Committee no less, argue for a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach is sickening.

Given the extraordinary ease with which identities, headers, dns addresses, etc. can be forged (or stolen) under current technology, Hatch’s idiotic suggestion would certainly result in punishment of the innocent.

But hey… punishing the innocent is what our current administration does best, with ignoring the Constitution running a close second.