On the Deeplinks blog at eff.org Corynne McSherry and Marcia Hofmann report on the case of Sony vs Hotz. The implications of the case are broad reaching and frightening. Sony is suing researchers for the crime of exposing security holes. The researchers found security holes that allow users to run Linux on the Playstation 3 - something Sony allowed until recently.
This is the ultimate result of the Digital Millenim Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA makes it a crime to circumvent security measures on electronic media and devices - even if you have purchased the device and are exercising rights granted to you by other laws. Copyright fair use and modifying your own equipment on your own network for otherwise legal uses are two examples.

The link for this article located at Lubbock Online is no longer available.