It hasn’t been talked about a heck of a lot in either the mainstream media or even in the tech media, but Microsoft seems to have climbed into bed and under the sheets alongside the copyright cartel with the release of its new Windows Vista operating system. Because Hollywood and the recording biz view each and every personal computer as a literal piracy factory cranking out illegal copies of their “intellectual property,” the cartel demanded that Microsoft include certain “guarantees” in designing their new Windows OS.

As reported by tech writer Leo Laporte on his television program, The Lab With Leo (see YouTube clip below), Microsoft made significant changes at the very core of its Vista system, built-in safeguards that use some sort of software razzle-dazzle called “tilt bits” to recognize changes in the digital delivery system and institute a virtual “lockdown” that can go so far as to shut down your computer entirely if it thinks that you’re attempting to illegally “capture” the digital stream. Great, an operating system that works only when it wants to…sounds like…well, sounds like Microsoft Windows, actually.

Time will tell exactly how far the proliferation of this copyright protection scheme will go. Does Vista place restrictions on ripping or burning CDs under some arcane guidelines that only Microsoft and the RIAA are privy to? What otherwise innocent actions undertaken by your computer will Vista identify incorrectly and take offense to? Heck, even Microsoft’s own anti-piracy efforts are prone to errors. Software such as Windows or MS Office requires registration via the Internet and often incorrectly identifies changes in your computer’s hardware as representing the illegal use of their software on an unlicensed system.

Most importantly, why do we need computer software to regulate our morals at the request of an immoral entertainment industry? Do you trust Microsoft to serve as “Big Brother” for the ever-encroaching entertainment industry? I didn’t think so…