A response on SOPA/Protect IP

Originally posted on prussell.org.

I wrote my congresswoman recently to urge her to oppose the SOPA/Protect IP legislation written by the entertainment industry and currently working through the House and Senate. My opposition falls in line with most of the online outrage I’ve seen. It’s unnecessary, won’t work, no due process, messes with DNS, provides ways around protections in the DMCA for site owners, interferes with search engines, etc. As someone who consumes a lot of content online and makes my living on the interwebs, it’s pretty freaky stuff.

Of course, if you look at the legislators supporting Protect IP and SOPA, you will see a lot of Big Content in their donor lists. Sen Leahy (D-VT) boasts huge donations from Time Warner, Disney and Vivendi. Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced SOPA in the house and he’s taken a lot of entertainment money as well.

Anyway, I got a response from my congresswoman, Diana DeGette (D-CO). She doesn’t seem to take a stand but it sounds like she supports it. And I’m sure the $7,000 bribe donation she took from Time Warner will have no influence on her decision. I have no idea why she’s talking about patents (though if she wants to get into that, that system is broken too) and the amount of money she claims is lost due to piracy sounds like cop math. This response just made me more angry. Here it is below the fold.

Thank you for contacting me to discuss the issue of Internet censorship in relation to the PROTECT IP Act. I am pleased to learn your views on this legislation and appreciate the opportunity to share mine.

For generations America has been a leader in producing industrial and consumer goods and services, and our capacity for ingenuity and innovation has long been among our greatest assets. In 2010 the United States alone issued almost as many patents as the rest of the world combined. Protecting intellectual property, which in addition to patents includes creative material registered under copyrights and trademarks, is an important means of encouraging American innovation. Unfortunately, intellectual property piracy is an increasing problem in the United States, and the increased use of the Internet accounts for much of this growth. Envisional, a private company, published a report estimating that over 22 percent of all Internet traffic in the U.S. infringes upon copyrighted material. Internet piracy is one factor contributing to pirated intellectual property losses in the U.S., which total $250 billion each year.

The PROTECT IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) Act of 2011, S.968, was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in May 2011. The PROTECT IP Act would give the Department of Justice (DOJ) a number of new tools to combat intellectual property piracy by websites registered outside of the United States. Specifically the Attorney General would be authorized to take action against a foreign-registered website that is “dedicated to infringing activities.” Actions could include a lawsuit against the registered owners of the domain, or if that is not possible, shutting down the domain name directly. In addition to shutting down the domain name, the DOJ would be able to compel search engines, advertisers, payment processors, and domain name registries to sever ties with the infringing site.

Proponents of the bill argue that in high-growth sectors of the economy such as software and film, the security and integrity of products must be guaranteed to promote innovation and job creation. They also argue that current law does not give DOJ enough authority to take action against foreign registered websites that violate U.S. intellectual property law. Opponents are concerned the legislation does not have sufficient protections to prevent the DOJ from abusing the enforcement powers. They are concerned that the definition of a website “dedicated to infringing activities” is overly broad and could be applied incorrectly or inconsistently to innovative websites using new technologies. They are also concerned that there may not be a robust judicial review before the DOJ shuts down a website. Combined, these concerns raise important questions about competition on the Internet and impact growth in some sectors of economy should a bill like this result in a clumsy application of the law.

I will keep your thoughts in mind as this issue continues to develop. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on copyright law with me. Please feel free to visit my website at www.degette.house.gov . There you can sign-up for my e-mail newsletter and stay up-to-date with events in Congress. I look forward to our continued communication.

Sincerely,

Diana DeGette
Member of Congress