Other Tech the Senate Would Have Banned

An anonymous reader writes "A few weeks ago, Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch introduced the 'Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act' (COICA) bill, which was discussed here on Slashdot. The main part of the bill would allow the Justice Department to shut down websites that it deems are 'dedicated to infringing activities,' without a trial (due process is so old fashioned). Of course, in reviewing the bill, it's important to note that pretty much every new technology in the entertainment industry over the last century was deemed 'dedicated to infringing activities,' so here's a list of all of the technologies COICA would have banned in the past, including Hollywood itself, radio, cable television, the photocopier, the iPod and more."

Comments

Re:Photocopying machines

[grub]

Not sure how it would work but I hear they're thinking about putting seatbelts on Segways now.

"too soon" be damned...

Re:Photocopying machines

[noidentity]

Their thinking was that the secretaries would be swapping recipes via photocopies and not buying cookbooks as a Good Citizen should.

Who would fund the creation of new recipes if everyone shared them freely? Without copyright protection, we'd all be eating gray sludge fortified with nutrients.

Re:Photocopying machines

[jpapon]

Not sure how it would work but I hear they're thinking about putting parachutes on Segways now.

Fixed!