From the Washington Post:
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Tuesday he favors developing new technology to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Internet.
The surprise remarks by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, during a hearing on copyright abuses represent a dramatic escalation in the frustrating battle by industry executives and lawmakers in Washington against illegal music downloads.
During a discussion on methods to frustrate computer users who illegally exchange music and movie files over the Internet, Hatch asked technology executives about ways to damage computers involved in such file trading. Legal experts have said any such attack would violate federal anti-hacking laws.
"No one is interested in destroying anyone's computer," replied Randy Saaf of MediaDefender Inc., a secretive Los Angeles company that builds technology to disrupt music downloads. One technique deliberately downloads pirated material very slowly so other users can't.
"I'm interested," Hatch interrupted. He said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights."
The senator acknowledged Congress would have to enact an exemption for copyright owners from liability for damaging computers. He endorsed technology that would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."
Orrin, Orrin, Orrin.
You moron, moron, moron.
First off, there isn't any way that I'm aware of to "remotely destroy" someone's computer. You can wipe out data, sure, or corrupt the bootsector, or overwrite EPROMs, but all that can be repaired or restored, if at great bother and expense.
But let's imagine for a moment that you did have the technology to make this possible. Leaving aside entirely the flood of lawsuits that would ensue, you'll soon enough find out that a sword cuts in both directions.
Within seconds of unveiling your little doomsday device, you had best permanently disconnect yourself from the Internet, and the same applies to your terrorist buddies at the RIAA.
Or the hackers will do it for you. You'll be renting server space just to queue up the DNS attacks.
There are patriots who are shaping the terrain as we speak.
Orrin, Orrin, Orrin.