While in Seattle recently on business, I drew an interesting challenge from a friend. (The image is linked from VNUnet.com.)

We were talking about residential gateways. His premise was that phone companies will force these on people, that folks won't be allowed to resist carrier control of their Internet service. "Can you refuse them?" he asked.

Well yes, I can. Even if a carrier tries to give me a gateway as the price of getting their service, I don't have to use it as they intend. Whether the Internet remains a dumb pipe, or where the intelligence to control it will be found, is still up to me, I said.

This week, Microsoft is testing that proposition, by forcing a new view of copyright on users through its Janus technology.

Record labels, who are as attuned to public relations as the Iraqi Governing Council, responded typically, saying they plan on forcing a rise in music download prices to as much as $2.50 per song.

The issue remains what it has always been. Is what you buy your property? When I buy a book I own it, and can sell it or give it away. The same was true of recordings and tapes.

But in a digital world, a "perfect" copy supposedly exists forever. (It doesn't really, but that's the assumption.) Thus, the industry wishes to maintain ownership of it, even after it sells it to you, and keep extracting money from your pocket, forever, the way Microsoft does with its software.

The difference, of course, is that Microsoft continues to provide service for its software. It updates its software, patches bugs in it, and keeps working on the product, hopefully to make it better.

Once a song or a movie goes out the door, it's done. So why can't I buy it?

Never mind, says Janus. We say you can't. And we will force you to consume digital property on our terms, because you will have no other choice. See, music industry, we're behind you -- distribute only through us.

If people have a choice, in other words, deny them the choice. The problem is that while the law may say that, and while technology may say that, there is, as yet, no way you can force money out of my pocket, other than through taxes.

So long as the market remains consensual, the industry must deal with it. That's my position.

We'll see who's right.