Well, one simple line is crossed with online activation: My license is worthless if their server licensing goes down, if they stop paying for the server, if they go insane, or if they go out of business.

I can stick Fallout into my PC and play it, even though Black Isle and Interplay are dead and gone. If every game company begins this activation nonsense, PC gaming will lose its entire back catalog over time.

I know, I know, someone from the BioShock team is now claiming that they will release a patch down the road that removes the activation. I guess we had all better download and archive that patch as soon as it comes out, 'cause the game will not install properly without it in 2010.

Bob the Insane, let me come back at you with a different example. When I buy a book, I am not buying the full intellectual rights to it. A copy of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants does not give me the right to make a movie from that book. On the other hand, Bantam or Dell Ray or whatever publisher does not gain the right to inspect my home, check my bookshelf, and lock my front door if it detects a photocopier.

This is an established customer/producer relationship, and I will oppose publishers' attempts to expand their rights at the expense of yours and mine. Everybody can make money, everybody can enjoy the work, but fer cryin' out loud, don't treat your customers like criminals.