RIAA crosses a line

[Tobiasly]

Originally posted by hot_pastrami
I think the point is that the RIAA wants to buy legislation to require copy-protection measures to be included with all new computers, and among those measures could be the ability to render the computer useless.

No, you're confusing two separate measures here. No one would buy a computer with a self-destruct switch that the RIAA could activate remotely at their whim. Hatch is asking about whether it's feasible to write software that would somehow remotely destroy a computer.

The bill you're referring to, if I'm not mistaken, was defeated. It would have required any device capable of playing digital audio to have anti-piracy hardware. There was a big deal made over how it was way too broad, covering everything from MP3 players to computers to those flapping, singing fish.