I don't use much of the copyrighted material that the Entertainment Industry wants to sell. I watch very few movies (probably 10 a year); I watch very little TV (1-2 hours a week); and I don't listen to much music (ten pieces a month). So, I'm not your average "consumer" of entertainment media.
Why would someone like me be upset about the recent maneuvering of the entertainment industry? Simply put, they are attempting to use the law to reduce the functionality of my computers.
Ostensibly, the thinking behind the proposed bill — the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act — is that if more movies were online, more people would have highspeed Internet access. That is, couch potatos would look to the glow of their 15 inch monitor rather than their 56 inch TV set for movies if more were online. The reality is that people don't seem to have a real desire for "on-demand" movies — attempts have been made for the past ten years to create a market for the idea — so this facade is just that: a lie.
The bill would not only reduce the functionality of any new computers, it has the potential to outlaw free and open-source software. In this sense, it is again a fight of the greedy capitalist against the people.