SOPA Maintains Supporters But Fails to Ease Opposition Despite Amendment
There is an urgent need for Congress to pass a bill that curbs theft of copyrighted content and the sale of counterfeited goods online, some lawmakers, companies and associations said Tuesday on Capitol Hill. At an event, representatives of 17 companies and organizations put their support behind the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which was introduced by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas (WID Oct 27 p1) OR (CD Oct 27 p13) OR (CED Oct 27 p8). The problem with “rogue sites” goes beyond the country’s borders, he said. “When you look at global Internet traffic today … one quarter is thought to violate copyright.” It has a negative impact on the economy and it steals innovator profits and jobs, he said.
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Smith said he wants Congress to pass SOPA ahead of its other top priorities, like cybersecurity and privacy. “We'll get to those other subjects in due time,” he said after the event. “We want to get the Stop Online Piracy Act across the finish line first.” However, “we won’t have time this year,” he added: “Hopefully early next year” it'll move forward. The bill, along with the manager’s amendment released Monday (WID Dec 13 p7) OR (CD Dec 13 p13) OR (CED Dec 13 p5), will be marked up Thursday. Smith said he expects a two-day markup. The amendment tailors the definition of foreign “rogue sites” to those that stream or illegally sell copyrighted content. It also prohibits courts from putting additional responsibilities on ISPs to comply with it.
The amendment addresses concerns that some entities had about the legislation, said House IP Subcommittee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. “We're dead set against hurting the Internet.” The committee worked to ensure it will be a “tremendous benefit to the technology sector if it makes people feel safe about what they do online.” SOPA is a “jobs bill,” said Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. Congress needs to pass it “because it does affect so many different sectors of our economy,” Blackburn said. The Business Software Alliance notably backpedaled on its support for SOPA’s original language (WID Dec 7 p6) OR (CED Dec 7 p6).
Theft of intellectual property by rogue sites makes the work of small businesses and entrepreneurs “whose livelihoods depend on creative and artistic pursuits economically meaningless,” said Sandra Aistars, executive director of the Copyright Alliance. SOPA provides a practical solution for them, she said. Today one in six Americans buys medication on the Internet without a valid prescription, said Libby Baney, attorney for the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies. Rogue sites endanger the public health, she said. Unknowingly, those one in six patients “are just a click away from access to dangerous medications,” she added. These sites are the vessel of choice for modern criminals and terrorists and criminal organizations to help fund their activities overseas, said Rob Holmes, founder of IPCybercrime, an investigative firm.
Momentum from opponents and proponents of SOPA is gaining traction. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the amendment retains the “fundamental flaws” of the original legislation. It does this by “blocking Americans’ ability to access websites, imposing costly regulation on Web companies,” and it gives the Department of Justice “broad new powers to police the Internet,” he said. Issa said he will formally introduce the Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act Wednesday, whose language he released with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., that chamber’s intended sponsor of the bill, which would empower the International Trade Commission to investigate rogue sites. Wyden worked with Issa on the OPEN Act and he is authoring a companion bill for the Senate, a spokeswoman told us. His office is trying to “generate support in the Senate to move it forward.” Although the amendment proposes changes and some improvements to SOPA, there are still significant problems with the approach, said Public Knowledge. It still encourages DNS blocking and filtering, “which should be concerning for Internet security experts and human rights activists alike."
Congress should reject opponents’ claims that “do not reflect the reality of the legislation,” said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global IP Center. The amendment represents a “thoughtful, careful and good faith effort.” RIAA also praised the effort: “This legislation is now more focused on the bad actors and provides additional safeguards for legitimate operators."
About 70 tech firms launched a campaign that urges citizens to help block SOPA by contacting their members of Congress. Tumblr, Reddit, Demand Progress, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and other organizations are directing Internet users to AmericanCensorship.org, Demand Progress said. The site has a tool allowing users to “censor” parts of their emails and posts to certain social media sites.
SOPA’s Senate companion, the PROTECT IP Act from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., passed the committee in May and awaits a floor vote. Legislation combating rogue sites should not be restricted to a “follow-the-money” solution, a committee spokeswoman said. Only a “no-fault, no liability” approach that includes “some role from all in the Internet ecosystem will be effective in combating theft” of IP online. Also, targeting domain names isn’t unprecedented, she said: For “Operation in Our Sites,” the Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement prevented digital theft “by seizing domestic domain names associated with those websites” (WID Nov 30/10 p1).