Declan McCullagh

, now at CNET, has the story on the pro-corporate-hacking bill that Congresscritters Berman and Coble are introducing to Congress in coming days. This bill would allow corporations (or their agents) to hack into personal computers without a court order or any due process at all. As McCullagh writes: “Sponsored by Reps. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and Howard Coble, R-N.C., the measure would permit copyright holders to perform nearly unchecked electronic hacking if they have a “reasonable basis” to believe that piracy is taking place. Berman and Coble plan to introduce the 10-page bill this week.” Note that “reasonable basis” is not just the language they happened to choose - it’s legal language that basically gives companies the ability to give themselves permission to do this on a whim.