RIAA vs the Turing Machine

Ed Felton writes how the US Government thinks "the general purpose computers is a threat, not only to copyright but to our entire future." Now, while the PC is often too complicated to use, and some users may benefit from a simpler, restricted machine, the desktop Turing Machine is still critical to innovation. But last year when I mentioned this to Randall Picker (U Chicago Law prof and smart guy) he struggled to see why.

Given the market success of most information applicances, the general purpose computer is not going anywhere unless outlawed by the Government. Microsoft, with Palladium, is already locking up the Windows PC, but there are many other platforms more focused on empowering end users.