Now that the Sony debacle is widely known, it's pretty much known that other bad guys will be looking for vulnerability in copy protection technology.

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.

I think people are encouraged that now you have television episodes that you can download. It shows that (the industry) is finally beginning to take seriously the demand for online.