Hatch wants to zap illicit napsters....

It's not enough the Republicans want to spy on where we surf; now they want the power to blast computers if we break their rules.

A US senator wants to develop new technology which would remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music tracks.

Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican representing Utah, asked technology chiefs at a hearing in Washington about whether they could develop ways to damage or destroy the computers.

Legal experts have said any attack on people's computers would contravene the US's anti-hacking laws. [At the very least!]

Mr Hatch said damaging computers "may be the only way you can teach someone about copyright".
...

"If that's the only way, then I'm all for destroying their machines." [Mr Hatch said.]

For these Right-Wing fanatics, the Bill of Rights takes second-place to copyrights.

Scary story here.