RIAA/MPAA Want Monitoring Software, Border Checks

"Another article on intellectual property enforcement? Yes, since I consider this to be the most important struggle technology has to face over the coming decade. We already know that content providers don't care one bit about hard-fought concepts like freedom and privacy, but the joint proposals by the RIAA and MPAA to the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator really blew my brains out: monitoring software installed on people's computers, border inspections - it's all there, and then some.

"As you may recall, the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator made a request late February for comments on how the United States should handle intellectual property enforcement within the current administration. Apart from advice from the public and organisations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, big content itself is of course also allowed to shine their light on the matter. Which is good.

"What isn't good, sadly, are the idiotic measures they've come up with. If it were up to the RIAA, MPAA, and similar organisations, the American public's privacy isn't worth a darn dime. For instance, they state that people should install software on their computers that continuously scans the hard drive for files that may infringe copyright, similar to how antivirus software works. While they add the "voluntary" modifier, the Sony rootkit fiasco has shown us that these people are not to be trusted."

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