President Bush signed into law on Monday a bill which gives music and film companies greater ability to sue individuals for copyright infringement, while also stiffening federal penalties for such offenses. This is truly egregious, especially considering ample redress already exists for companies to pursue infringers. It also creates a federal intellectual copyright czar. Please note, empowering "czars" seems inherently undemocratic to me, and no czar has ever helped improve a problem in the US. Worst of all, the bill allows for asset seizure, which means many parents will stand to lose their computers for the actions of their children (as if getting sued for thousands of dollars wasn't enough of a penalty already!). All this is allowable for illegally downloading one song. Way to get after those law-breakers! The sad thing is both parties were major supporters of this issue, mainly because groups like the RIAA are major donors to so many politicians in Washington. And they didn't even let the objections of the Justice Department hold them up on this one either. If only there was a legitimate third party!!!