[A new low in DRM] The MPAA and RIAA have never been known for making intelligent, insightful, or for that matter, realistic recommendations regarding digital copyright, but this has got to be the most backward stunt they've ever attempted to pull: The MPAA is asking the Senate to require that "all devices that perform analog to digital conversions" be required to contain digital copyright hardware. If this steaming pile of ill-conceived tripe ever gets passed, it'll accomplish 3 things:
1) It will needlessly inflate the cost of A-D chips,
2) It will ensure that nobody ever buys American A-D technology,
3) It will give hackers a good chuckle as they immediately bust this brainless scheme wide open, as they did with the lousy, Mac-crashing CD protection technology that the RIAA endorsed.