Audio Home Recording Act of 1992

The Audio Home Recording Act was introduced to the Senate on August 1, 1991 by Senator Dennis DeConcini, and was signed by President George W. Bush in 1992. Bush claimed that ..."AHRA will ensure that American consumers have access to equipment embodying the new digital audio recording technology. It also protects the legitimate rights of our songwriters, performers, and recording companies to be rewarded for their talent, expertise, and capital investment. this will be accomplished by tax payers compensating these artists for the copying of their works and by creating a system that will prevent unfettered copying of digital audio tapes."

But as we can see, that didn't work out (see here)

Thought the Act is still in force, it is largely ignored by the American population, thus the need for further bills such as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, SOPA and PIPA.

 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:S.1623.ENR: