It really shows they are becoming a grown-up company. The Internet companies are belatedly realizing that they can't ignore Washington.

They may claim to be a company, but it is some guy, typically overseas at an Internet cafe. They can never track these people because they're in holes in the walls.

It would be more of an uphill fight to justify downloading 'The Sopranos' if you're not an HBO subscriber.

This isn't just idle paranoia. The technology companies are sensitive because they remember all too well that when the VCR was introduced, the movie studios sued them. When the digital audio player was introduced, the record companies sued them. And when the MP3 player was introduced, the record companies sued them for that too.

This potential outcome just underscores what we've seen from the beginning. Small companies just can't afford to fight the entertainment industry, even if they might have a good case.

Hollywood wants to put a mark -- sort of like a mark of the beast for video content -- that says that this is MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) content, and we want to control what you can do with it.