Comic Relief:

We interrupt this Blog for a humorous interlude. We all need to laugh sometimes. This story has been floating around the internet. Senator Orin Hatch (R-UT) has suggested figuring out a way to destroy the computers of people who illegally download music. I kid you not:

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."

This could be dangerous. What if the government was able to find and destroy every computer that contained the words "Bush Sucks?"