A closer look
Major Hollywood film studios aggressively sued the creators of the videocassette recorder in the 1970s, terrified that giving consumers the ability to record television shows would completely destroy the entire entertainment industry. The president of the Motion Picture Association famously testified before Congress that the VCR was to the American film producer what the Boston Strangler is to the woman home alone, employing an absolutely unhinged level of dramatic flair. Naturally, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that home recording was perfectly legal, and the home video market ironically went on to become the single most lucrative revenue stream in Hollywood history. The entertainment executives fought tooth and nail against the very technology that would ultimately fund their extravagant yacht purchases for the next three decades. It is a timeless lesson that massive corporate entities are often completely terrified of innovation, right up until the exact moment they figure out how to ruthlessly monetize it!
