COPYCENSE

“[Sen. John E.] Sununu, an MIT grad, interrupted to ask the question so far unconsidered by his colleagues: Do we need this mandate at all?

He pointed out that ‘we have a whole history of similar technological innovation that has shown us that the market can respond with its own protection to the needs of the artists.’ And he concluded with one of the most damning depictions of the ahistorical nature of the flag you’ll hear on the Hill:

The suggestion is that if we don’t do this, it will stifle creativity. Well…we have now an unprecedented wave of creativity and product and content development…new business models, and new methodologies for distributing this content. The history of government mandates is that it always restricts innovation…why would we think that this one special time, we’re going to impose a statutory government mandate on technology, and it will actually encourage innovation?

EFF Deep Links. History and Senator Stevens’ iPod. Jan. 25, 2006.

See also:

Federal Communications Commission. In the Matter of: Digital Audio Broadcasting Systems And Their Impact on the Terrestrial Radio Broadcast Service. (.pdf, 300 KB) April 20, 2004.

J.D. Lasica. Will Radio Be Napsterized? Mindjack. May 24, 2004.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.