Quote:
The industry has tried to seek legislative support for aggressive measures. Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, introduced a bill last fall that would have limited the liability of copyright owners for using tougher technical counterpiracy tactics to protect their works online. But the bill was roundly criticized by privacy advocates. "There was such an immediate attack that you couldn't get a rational dialogue going," said Cary Sherman, president of the recording industry association. He said that while his organization often briefs recording companies on legal issues related to what he calls "self help" measures, "the companies deal with this stuff on their own."
And as for the more extreme approaches, he said, "It is not uncommon for engineers to think up new programs and code them. There are a lot of tantalizing ideas out there — some in the gray area and some illegal — but it doesn't mean they will be used."
Bottom-line? The industry's bark may be worse than its bite. These "new" tactics are only another scare tactic ... along with the mass instant-messages and lawsuits against a handful of P2P users to "make examples" of them -- with a wish of scaring off others. And, if they dare to employ these high-tech bites without lawsuit-cap protections, it'll only take one or two high-profile mistakes (which are bound to happen) to derail the process.