Bills to Stop Web Piracy Invite a Protracted Battle by JENNA WORTHAM and SOMINI SENGUPTA Published: January 15, 2012
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Bills to Stop Web Piracy Invite a Protracted Battle By JENNA WORTHAM and SOMINI SENGUPTA Published: January 15, 2012 When the Obama administration announced on Saturday its opposition to major elements of two Congressional bills intended to curtail copyright violations on the Internet, the technology industry, which has been loudly fighting the proposed legislation, could declare victory. But few people in Silicon Valley or Hollywood consider the battle over. The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Hollywood studios and is a principal proponent of the antipiracy legislation, suggested that it would continue to push the administration to approve a modified version of the bills, known as the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act. “Look forward to @whitehouse playing a constructive role in moving forward on #sopa & #pipa,” the association posted on its Twitter feed Saturday night. Some leaders of the movie industry were not as diplomatic. The chief executive of News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, in a flurry of Twitter messages in the hours after the White House announcement, accused President Obama of capitulating to the technology industry. “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery,” he posted on his Twitter feed. The antipiracy bills presented a difficult test to a young, disorganized and largely politically inactive technology industry. It is unclear that companies like Facebook and Google, left to themselves, could have swayed members of Congress or the White House without using the Internet to marshal opposition from technologists, entrepreneurs and computer-adept consumers. Opposition came from a vast spectrum, including computer security specialists who worried about a provision to tinker with Internet addresses and venture capitalists who feared the legislation would thwart the innovation of technology start-ups. The opposition has been fueled by some of the most innovative pieces of the Internet — Twitter, Facebook, Reddit.com and even the I Can Haz Cheezburger? sites. “Looks like the Internet is winning a battle against some really bad potential law,” wrote Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, the online classified advertising site, in a blog post on Sunday. Markham C. Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, whose members include Google and Yahoo, said Sunday that it was too soon to dismiss entirely the House or Senate versions of the antipiracy bills. “I think the White House statement is very strong 10 August 2012 From www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/technology/web-piracy-bills-invite-a-protracted-battle.html?hpw and it helps, but, no, I don’t think it’s dead,” Mr. Erickson said by telephone from Washington. “We will continue to have to educate as many members as possible.” He said it was still an open question whether his group would seek to kill the bills or push for major changes. Several Internet companies, including AOL, Facebook, Google and Yahoo, endorse an alternative that seeks to punish foreign Web sites that engage in copyright infringement through international trade law. That bill is co-sponsored by Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California. Last week, Mr. Issa said that his party’s leader, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, had assured him that the Stop Online Piracy Act would not come up for a vote until there was consensus. For technology companies, that holds out the promise of returning to the drawing board. For Hollywood and other media companies challenged by piracy, it defers the prospects of antipiracy legislation. “We have a chance to reset the legislative table to find out what kind of legislation is needed,” Mr. Erickson said. “We have an opportunity to step back, recalibrate and understand what the problem is.” Several prominent Web sites and start-ups that have been among the most vocal opposition to the bills say they will not let up on their online advocacy soon. The comments by the administration’s chief technology officials was a sign that government officials were beginning to pay attention to the cries of concern from the technology industry about the bills’ ability to enable censorship and tamper with the livelihood of businesses on the Internet. “It’s encouraging that we got this far against the odds, but it’s far from over,” said Erik Martin, the general manager of Reddit.com, a social news site that has generated some of the loudest criticism of the bills. “We’re all still pretty scared that this might pass in one form or another. It’s not a battle between Hollywood and tech, its people who get the Internet and those who don’t.” Mr. Marin said that Reddit is planning a sitewide blackout on Wednesday to protest the bills — an effort joined by a number of other sites, including MoveOn, BoingBoing, a popular technology and culture blog, and the Cheezburger Network, a collection of several dozen Internet humor sites, including I Can Haz Cheezburger? and FailBlog. In New York, the New York Tech Meetup, an eight-year-old organization of nearly 20,000 people who work in the technology industry throughout the city, is planning a protest Wednesday afternoon outside the Manhattan offices of Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand of New York, who co-sponsored some of the proposed legislation. The rallying of the Internet and heavyweights in the technology world was significant because it is one of the few times that the industry has united around a focal point, said Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Harvard Law School who studies how the Internet affects society. 10 August 2012 From www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/technology/web-piracy-bills-invite-a-protracted-battle.html?hpw Although certain hot button issues, like tax credits, patent policies and net neutrality, have driven industry leaders to Washington in the past, the Stop Online Piracy Act “awakened the entire tech world,” he said. “They are realizing just how big this fight was becoming.” Michael O’Leary, executive vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America, said by telephone from Washington that his group was disappointed by parts of the White House statement but hoped the Obama administration would follow through on its stated commitment to stop copyright infringement. “They believe piracy is a problem, that legislation is needed.” Mr. O’Leary said. “We take them at their word.” He said the association opposes the alternative bill sponsored by Mr. Issa and Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, because it would be cumbersome. The group will continue to lobby for the existing House and Senate bills, he said. “I don’t think we need to go back to the drawing board,” he said. “What we have here is a good framework.” Several people involved in the technology industry, including Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist in New York whose firm, Union Square Ventures, has invested in a number of popular Web properties like Tumblr, Twitter and Etsy, expressed hope for a mutually beneficial outcome. “What I’d love to see happen, is that the people from the entertainment industry, those who have a lot invested in the SOPA and PIPA legislation, get together with a group of people from the technology industry who have been actively fighting against this thing and talk about the right way to solve the problem,” he said. “I’m certainly not declaring victory yet.” Pablo Chavez, a director of public policy at Google, said in a statement, “Like others, we believe Congress wants to get this right, and we know there are targeted and smart ways to shut down foreign rogue Web sites without asking U.S. companies to censor the Internet.” Mr. Martin of Reddit echoed those sentiments, saying that he would be willing to work with government officials to draft legislation that would help prevent copyright infringement without threatening the livelihood of Reddit and similar sites. “The Internet is disruptive and chaotic and it does allow things that are bad like unauthorized piracy, but the answer is not to have the federal government enforce potentially bad bureaucracy and legislation,” Mr. Martin said. “That’s not the way to actually solve anything.” Nick Bilton contributed reporting 10 August 2012 From www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/technology/web-piracy-bills-invite-a-protracted-battle.html?hpw .