I liked the comment on "The hacker then played the role of a cybervigilante"...Rep. Berman's bill is of the same ilk. What the good Congressman doesn't seem to grasp is the notions on innocence until proven guilty IN A COURT OF LAW and as such, the media content providers are acting as cyybervigilantes and no act of congress can make it otherwise. Berman wants to subvert the judicial system.
"John Zulauf" <johnzu@ia.nsc.com> Sent by: owner-dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
A judge has ruled that law enforcement cannot (even through an
non-deputized agent) break into a network attached computer without a
search warrant. This would seem dampen that possibility of copyright
holders being able to secure criminal infringement charges from any
cracking of non-public P2P networks. Private "darknets" (as the
Microsoft paper referred to them) will be off limits unless a judge is
shown probable cause.
Public P2P networks will be as vulnerable in terms of the content they
show without requiring access authority. However, seeding digital works
with viruses to snoop beyond the public "Shares" will require a warrant.