IBM Granted "Paper-or-Plastic?" Patent

theodp writes "On Tuesday, IBM was granted US Patent No. 7,407,089 for storing a preference for paper or plastic grocery bags on customer cards and displaying a picture of said preference after a card is scanned. The invention, Big Blue explains, eliminates the 'unnecessary inconvenience for both the customer and the cashier' that results when 'Paper or Plastic?' must be asked. The patent claims also cover affixing a cute sticker of a paper or plastic bag to a customer card to indicate packaging preferences. So does this pass the 'significant technical content' test, IBM'ers?"

Comments

Re:I never really hear what is wrong with plastic.

[jeroen94704]

>I'm still going to be annoyed that its not well
>conveyed onto consumers WHY this is bad.

In general, my position in this regard is that if you can't be bothered stay informed about a particular subject, you should just shut up and do as you're told. That isn't intended as a judgment, really! There are plenty of subjects on which I can't be bothered to stay informed, simply because there are only a wee 24 hours in the day. But I object to the argument that "consumers" should be able to kick back and relax while the government spoon-feeds them everything they need to know. THAT is what 1984 warned against.