Benjamin Franklin built a computer out of a peanut -- a peanut!

The Sony root kit fiasco has opened up another debate: what about the over-protective and draconian DRM measures in some of our favorite PC video games?

According to Kotaku "Christopher [Spence] has filed a $5M class action lawsuit against Ubisoft for using Starforce DRM in their games." Starforce is a known cause of various Windows instabilities and has been even rumored to damage CD drives.

In related news, Stardock, the creators of Galactic Civilizations II, has butted heads against Starforce. GC II's license allows for an unlimited number of installs on an unlimited number of machines as long as only one install is in use at a time. Starforce, seeking to prove themselves a necessary evil, linked to a site offering illegal bittorrent downloads of the popular game.

Despite the pirating, GC II was on EBGames top selling list. In ten days, it outsold its previous installment. According to Stardock, companies shouldn't be "about eliminating piracy" but "about increasing sales. It's about trying to make sure that people who would buy your product buy it instead of steal it." To do this, Stardock makes their product "easy for users to buy and make full use of [their] product ... legitimately."

Until next time, don't die.