Technology: A bipartisan attempt to regulate the Internet?
October 26, 2011
Leaders of the House Judiciary Committee introduced a beefed-up version Wednesday of the Senate Judiciary Committee's proposed Protect IP Act, offering Hollywood new tools to go after foreign piracy hotbeds -- as well as opening online storage, content-sharing and auction sites in the U.S. and elsewhere to attack from copyright and trademark owners.
The 78-page Stop Online Piracy Act (HR 3261) boasts a rare degree of bipartisan support, reflecting the combined influence of such backers as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Motion Picture Assn. of America. But it drew an even sharper outcry from tech-industry advocates than the Protect IP Act.
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House takes Senate's bad Internet censorship bill, tries making it worse
By Nate Anderson
Imagine a world in which any intellectual property holder can, without ever appearing before a judge or setting foot in a courtroom, shut down any website's online advertising programs and block access to credit card payments. The credit card processors and the advertising networks would be required to take quick action against the named website; only the filing of a "counter notification" by the website could get service restored.
It's the world envisioned by Rep. Lamar Hunt (R-TX) in today's introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act in the US House of Representatives. This isn't some off-the-wall piece of legislation with no chance of passing, either; it's the House equivalent to the Senate's PROTECT IP Act, which would officially bring Internet censorship to the US as a matter of law.
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