what's going on here?

via /. I see that Congress may be ramming through new copyright legislation. I can't figure out how is fits in with the Repug agenda, other than they seem to be trigger happy when it comes to bolstering their corporate cronies and limiting personal rights. Certainly expanding copyright doesn't do much for "family values" or "traditional morality".

One of the provisions in the bill would make it illegal to skip promotional material (i.e. to fast forward through commercials). Apparently, my remote control is now a weapon of mass destruction. . . at least to NBC's new Thursday night line-up.

It seems to me that copyright is the area in which current law has drifted farthest from our the founders' original conception. IANAL, so feel free to call me on that statement. Here's the relevent text from the Constitution, Article I, Section 8:

The Congress shall have power to. . . promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries

Not quite sure how expanding copyright in such broad terms is promoting the progress of science and useful arts, but like I said above, IANAL.