According to Vivendi Vice Chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr., "With the extent of piracy and the extent of CD (copying) that's going on, we have no choice but to protect our artists and our rights holders."

But is it fair to punish everyone for the actions of a few since consumers often make digital copies for their personal use, such as when making a mixed CD or a backup copy? What about the weary business traveler who would like to bring along his CD collection on business trips, minus the bulky CDs? Well, they're all out of luck because record labels want to deny you, the consumer, your right to exercise your right to Fair Use.

Worse yet is the fact that the technology being implemented hasn't been fully tested and in some instances CD players (and even computer CD-ROM drives) may be unable to even play the CDs, as no agreed-upon standard has been developed. How will this affect the idea of turning our computers into a "digital hub" or the "entertainment center" of our homes is unknown.

I'm sure consumers won't be too happy when they also find out that these record lables have also degraded the audio quality of their music by placing digital fingerprints or copy-protection systems onto the CDs.

Why are media companies intentionally crippling their products in a way that infringes on your Fair Use rights? Why do they want to control how you use you products? These are just some of the questions you should be asking yourself the next time you decide to pick up and pay for that new CD.

Our only recourse, when a vendor is providing a defective product, is to not purchase it. So stop purchasing those CDs, DVDs or other copy protected materials. Otherwise, you'll just be encouraging them to produce more defective products.