Next week , the Senate could be satisfy to vote on the Protect IP Act ( PIPA ) , the bill that many people are warning coulddamage the cyberspace . It ’s a horrible prospect — but this is n’t the first time that Congress has endeavor to sacrifice a engineering at the behest of corporate lobbyist .
Here are 10 other engineering that Congress tried , at one clock time or another , to legislate out of universe .
Top image : Neal Sanche / Flickr .
Who want it Killed : The picture show studio apartment , mainly . The MPAA ’s Jack Valenti famouslytestifiedbefore Congress that “ the VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the char home alone . ”
How it function Out : No few than six bills were acquaint in Congress to control the videocassette recorder . The MPAA ultimately dropped its demand that VCR be outlawed , but rather support bills that would require licensing of VCRs , royal line on the sales agreement of blank videocassette , and a right of first publication possessor ’s permission before renting out telecasting mag tape . In the end , Congressdecided to wait and see what the Supreme Court decided in the famous Sony Vs . ecumenical case . And then , in 2002 , the Digital Millennium Copyright Actrequiredall VCRs to admit “ automatic increase control , ” thus make Macrovision written matter protection an integral part of all VCRs .
Who want it kill : John Philip Sousa , the guy rope who save “ Stars and Stripes Forever . ” He testified before Congress that both the acoustic gramophone and the player piano would put musicians out of business . And that they would strangle composers from writing new euphony by removing “ all bonus to further originative body of work . ” Inmarathon hearings , Sousa and the American Copyright League debate in favor of a bill which would have given copyright possessor control over all sale ( let in resale ) of their oeuvre .
How it Worked Out : In the ending , Congress slide by a milder bill , which just assured musicicans and composer royalties from recording . Sousa was quenched , and in 1923 , he told Thomas Edison , “ You have made the art of the player immortal , Mr. Edison . ”
Who Wanted it obliterate : conservationist and nutrient safety advocates . Congress has tried many clock time over the twelvemonth to regulate or ban certain types of genetically modify foods , and manybillshave been introduced over the years . Most recently , as the Food and Drug Administration has been deciding whether to allow the sale of AquaBounty Technologies ’ genetically modified salmon in the U.S. , the House of Representativesvotedto block FDA approval of the “ AquAdvantage ” salmon .
How it Worked Out : In general , U.S. laws remain laxer than those in most other state . Regarding the Salmon River issue , it does n’t look as though the House provision haspassed the Senate , or gotten President Obama ’s signature . Meanwhile , the FDA still has n’t made a decision about the “ franken - Salmon River . ”
Who Wanted it Killed : The Feds themselves . The Justice Department was very alarmed by the raise of online gaming , specially as run by seaward operators , and concern that this gambling could swear out as a top for money - laundering .
How it Worked Out : Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 , which did n’t criminalise online play , but did bar U.S. banks and credit card companies from processing payment to gambling web site . Since then , Rep. Barney Frank ( D - MA)has been trying to rejuvenate the legality of online gambling , reason that we could tax it and give a destiny of receipts , at a clip when budgets are under strain .
Who Wanted it Killed : Pretty much everybody . After Minnesota Vikings running back Onterrio Smith was caught at an airport with one of these equipment , which is fundamentally a faux phallus that allows you to fool drug water tests , Congressheld hearingson May 17 , 2005 . Rep. Bart Stupakheld up Whizzinator advertisingand spoke against the national scandal of imitation urination . “ How will we block up the flow ? ” demanded Stupak , as the elbow room exploded in unintended giggle .
How it Worked Out : There was no Union law against manufacturing such equipment , so country were powerless to go after the makers . In the end , the feds never managed to pass an anti - Whizzinator law , but federal prosecutors were able-bodied to go after the manufacturersfor selling drug paraphernalia .
Who Wanted it kill : really , this is more like a random injured party of a heady gunman . Congress has prove to pass a few laws to protect copyright owners in the past times , which were so broadly write that they would have banned a wide-cut range of applied science , let in mp3 players . There was the Induce Act , which would havebanned any technology that induce people to plunder copyright . Earlier , there was the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act , which banned any devices that could be used to read digital content that did n’t have Digital Rights Management ( DRM ) built in .
How it Worked Out : So far , none of these bills has passed , so your iPod is good .
Who Wanted it Killed : The dairy farm farmers . Margarine was insert in 1874 , after a Gallic chemist named Hippolyte Mège - Mouriès figured out a fashion to make a cheap butter replacement from beef fat . The dairy farm diligence freaked out , because the much cheaper marge threatened to drive smaller dairy farm out of commercial enterprise . They taste give various state practice of law , but some of those were shot down in court .
How it Worked Out : The dairy farm James Leonard Farmer went to Congress , and there were hearings that culminate in the Margarine Act of 1886 , which impose a tax of two cents per hammering on margarine — although the original bill called for a ten cent tax alternatively . This was followed by the Margarine Act of 1906 , in which the Union government raised that taxation for margarin that was dyed icteric to look like real butter . ( Some land law required margarine to be dyed eldritch color , like pinkish or black . ) The state and Union anti - margarine law of nature were on the books for decades . ( For more about the margarine saga , clickhereorhere . )
Who Wanted it Killed : Pro - life advocates , mainly . In 1996 , Congresspassed the Dickey - Wicker amendment , which bans any Union research in which human embryos are created , destroyed or put at hazard of damage . This law , which stay on on the volume , basically prevented most embryologic stalk cell research .
How it work Out : In 2001 , then - President George W. Bushannounceda unexampled insurance policy in which 61 cell lines of existing embryonic prow cells would be allowed for federally - fund research . Congress tried to pass a invoice thrive this policy , but Bush veto it . Since then , President Obama has tried to abolish the Bush policy , but Obama ’s executive order has been link up in Union courts . ( In a related to issue , Congress has repeatedly voted to ban human cloning . )
Who desire it pour down : The medicine diligence , yet again . Congressheld hearingsthroughout the belated 1980s over whether to stop this digital technology from coming to consumers . Music industry lobbyists demanded that DAT players be fitted with technology that would degrade the sound quality of any music copied on them , or that sales of DAT tapes include a royalty payment to the music industry .
How it work Out : As Stanford ’s Mark Lemleyputs it , “ Digital audio tapes were then dependent to a mandatory licensing schema and were never get word from again by mass - market consumers . The technology fall flat once it was put under the dominance of the message industriousness . ”
Who Wanted it Killed : Gun controller advocates . The ban on semi - automatic weapons in 1994 was a major achievement of the Clinton Administration ’s first two years — and probably a huge reason why the Democrats lost control over both firm of Congress that year .
How it Worked Out : The federal ravishment weapons ban was scheduled to sunset after ten years , and it did . The Bachelor of Arts in Nursing expire in 2004 , and assay to renew it were stillborn . Image via2DayBlog .
Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson and Marykate Jasper . Thanks also to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wendy Seltzer for the suggestion .
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