We tend to be a cynical, pessimistic bunch. We regularly disparage glowing reports of good security by indicating that the security may have been breached by users who are sophisticated enough to leave no tracks. Under the legislation being promoted, the University is liable if a user downloads a copyrighted work after compromising our server security. If we are lucky, the courts will take into account the effort we expended on our security before that high school student cracked it and downloaded all those copyrighted works. Again, the liability of the transmitter means that we will pay for the success of those hackers based in Korea, Germany, and Sri Lanka.
Security systems fail.
When laws are developed in this country outlawing the development of cracking tools, the development occurs elsewhere, it does not cease. We have looked at the mess created by stretching current copyright law over the digital arena. We have seen the movement of liability to the transmitter of works and away from the actual copier. We anticipate an erosion of Fair Use. We see the unenforceability of copyright in the current Web.