How to stifle innovation with one easy law

Hannah Metchis writes:

The latest example of this dangerous mix of law and technology is the Induce Act, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch. Its intent — to stop downloading of copyrighted material by making peer-to-peer file trading networks illegal — is bad enough. P2P networks have legitimate uses, like the distribution of taped Senate hearings. But the language of Hatch's bill is so open-ended that many other electronic devices, from the iPod to TiVo to email-to-RSS converters, would be called into question.

It is a sad real-world fact that most legislators, when presented with something they do not understand, almost always attempt to ban it. This probably started with the first neolithic fire-tamer . . . who was probably beaten to death with sticks when the tribal shaman saw it. Senator Hatch is showing all the finely nuanced reactions of Ug the caveman here.

This earlier post also talks about the problem with attempting to legislate new technology.