M+E Daily
Legislators Urge Reconsideration of Anti-Piracy Proposals
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As online protests on Wednesday from the likes of Google and Wikipedia galvanized Internet users against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), several of the bills’ co-sponsors in Congress withdrew their support of the legislation.
“We’ve heard legitimate concerns about the impact [that PIPA] could have on access to the Internet and about a potentially unreasonable expansion of the federal government’s power to impact the Internet. Congress should listen and avoid rushing through a bill that could have many unintended consequences,” said Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who had co-sponsored the legislation. Rubio publicly urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to “abandon his plan to rush the bill” to the Senate floor for a procedural vote next week. Rubio was joined by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in urging a reconsideration of PIPA; more at The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Reps. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) have pulled their sponsorship of SOPA, the sister bill in the House of Representatives (via the Los Angeles Times). House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) separately announced that he expects the committee to nevertheless continue its markup of the legislation in February.
All of the lawmakers were vocal in their support the IP enforcement objectives of the proposals, despite their new concerns. The bills’ proponents, meanwhile, dismiss the protests as misplaced criticisms, if not rhetoric.
“I think a lot of the opposition is targeted at issues which just aren’t presented by the [Protect IP Act],” Rick Cotton, general counsel for NBCUniversal, told The Wall Street Journal on Monday. “You have to separate out a lot of the misinformation that is out there.”
In any event, whereas Hollywood arguably has failed to frame the issues surrounding PIPA and SOPA for the public, the country’s technology interest—embodied by Google, Reddit, Wikipedia, and other Internet companies—has demonstrated how easily it can mobilize popular support.
