The next big debate on technology that hits Capital Hill this week is the battle over online piracy legislation. The Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R.3261) has been proposed in the US House, and The Protect IP Act (S.968) as it is known in the US Senate, both hope to tackle internet piracy.
The supporters of online piracy legislation include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America. The supporters of the proposed legislation show evidence that online piracy is sapping profits and costing the country jobs and argue that something needs to be done to curb online content theft.
Google and Facebook ask lawmakers to scrap Protect IP Act
There is a surprise group that has come forward which includes some heavy hitters of the internet, such as Google and Facebook, to take a stand against the proposed legislation.
A letter drafted by the group of technology companies was sent to key members of both congressional chambers. Referring to the Senate’s Protect IP Act and the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act they wrote:
“We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation, as well as to our Nation’s cybersecurity. ... We support the bills’ stated goals, unfortunately, the bills as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of web sites.”
The group of internet companies that are standing together to draw attention to the legislation are, AOL eBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo!, and the Zynga Game Network.
Giving power to the government to decide
Blocking and diverting traffic could create a technology nightmare of new rules on the internet highway. Free speech advocates claim the bill will allow the government to censor content.
Components of the proposed laws would give the government the power to demand a search engine or online advertising network delete links to a foreign website deemed to be in violation of the law. Under different provisions of the proposed laws, the technology companies could be working as agents of the government to block access to foreign websites that are hosting or otherwise facilitating copyright infringement.
While everyone agrees that internet piracy needs to be stopped, those opposing the legislation fear that significantly expanding the government's authority to block internet traffic has the potential to do more harm than good.
In the politics of the past, trade embargoes and travel restrictions were difficult to enforce, and seldom as effective as promised in influencing the actions of the folks being punished.
The politicians are considering waging war on the internet pirates without understanding all the technical details, and technology nightmares it will create.
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