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06/29/2004 Archived Entry: "Orrin Hatch gets scarier by the minute"

ORRIN HATCH GETS SCARIER BY THE MINUTE. His latest whim is to entirely ban P2P networks -- and to do so "for the children." Some say this would effectively ban the entire Internet. Not to mention TiVos and CD burners. Hatch's bill would also make it a federal crime for anyone to "counsel" or "induce" others to break his all-encompassing law.

Read this sardonic (and informative) markup of Hatch's statement on the purpose of his proposed INDUCE Act. And hope Mr. Hatch gets carted off to the other sort of hatch sooner, rather than later. (If you can't access that excellent analysis, here's an older, less detailed announcement of the bill.)

We tend to go on about Schumer or Clinton. But truly there's no bigger weirdo control freak in Congress than this guy -- unless it's his usual partner-in-crime and co-sponsor, Dianne Feinstein. If there were more like those two, there would not be a vestige of freedom left in the U.S. Each of us would be told exactly what we can own or do at any moment, and we'd be assigned a personal nanny to ensure that we did -- or is it didn't do? -- exactly what they demand.

What kind of person needs this level of control over others to feel good about himself? What kind of person needs to build elaborate, fantasmagorical card-houses of justification about "children" in order to try to ban a technology he clearly doesn't even begin to understand? This is more than opportunism coupled with cynicism. It's much more than Hatch being an android operated by the RIAA. This is madness.

Posted by Claire @ 08:39 AM CST
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