SENATE RESOLUTION No. 37

STATE OF NEW JERSEY 215th LEGISLATURE

INTRODUCED JANUARY 30, 2012

Sponsored by: Senator NIA H. GILL District 34 (Essex and Passaic)

SYNOPSIS Urges Congress not to pass “Stop Online Piracy Act” or “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act” in their respective current forms.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT As introduced.

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1 A SENATE RESOLUTION urging the United States House of 2 Representatives and the United States Senate to not pass 3 H.R.3261 or S.968 in their respective current forms. 4 5 WHEREAS, The United States House of Representatives is currently 6 considering H.R.3261, commonly referred to as the “Stop Online 7 Piracy Act” or “SOPA”; and 8 WHEREAS, The United States Senate is currently considering S.968, 9 commonly referred to as the “Preventing Real Online Threats to 10 Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act” or 11 “PIPA”; and 12 WHEREAS, These bills are intended to curb online piracy facilitated by 13 websites based outside the United States and thus outside the reach 14 of U.S. law; and 15 WHEREAS, SOPA and PIPA, in conjunction, attempt to curb online 16 piracy by foreign websites by requiring: (1) search engines, such as 17 , to remove a “foreign infringing site” from its indexes; (2) 18 advertisers and U.S.-based payment services, such as PayPal, to 19 stop doing business with foreign sites that are found to be 20 “dedicated to infringing activities”; and (3) Internet service 21 providers, or “ISPs,” to block users from accessing specific 22 websites using a technique known as “DNS blocking”; and 23 WHEREAS, SOPA and PIPA also make it illegal to inform users how 24 to access blocked websites, which could be interpreted to require 25 websites that feature user-generated content, such as and 26 YouTube, to actively monitor their website for circumvention 27 information; and 28 WHEREAS, SOPA and PIPA provide ISPs with immunity to block any 29 website that the ISP determines “in good faith” and “through 30 credible evidence” is devoted to illegally distributing copyrighted 31 material; and 32 WHEREAS, Opponents of SOPA and PIPA, including internet security 33 experts, numerous technology companies and their founders, public 34 interest groups, human rights organizations, venture capitalists, law 35 professors, entrepreneurs, and millions of everyday Americans, 36 have raised concerns that, as currently drafted, the bills could 37 impinge on First Amendment rights, stifle innovation, stunt job 38 growth, and compromise the functioning of the Internet; and 39 WHEREAS, Some critics, including , one of the “fathers of 40 the Internet,” and 90 other Internet experts that signed an open 41 letter to Congress, have voiced specific concerns regarding DNS 42 blocking because it could cause damage to the underlying structure 43 of the Internet; and 44 WHEREAS, Other critics have argued that the bills’ overly broad 45 language makes its provisions ripe for abuse by overzealous 46 holders, as has repeatedly happened under the authority 47 granted to copyright holders by the federal Digital Millennium 48 Copyright Act; and

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1 WHEREAS, The recently echoed many of the concerns 2 raised by the opponents of SOPA and PIPA, asserting that the 3 Obama Administration would not support any legislation that 4 “reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or 5 undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet”; and 6 WHEREAS, More time is necessary to consider the potential 7 ramifications of implementing the measures authorized in SOPA 8 and PIPA and to ensure that any legislation designed to protect 9 American intellectual property does so in a way that conforms to 10 First Amendment principles, encourages innovation and job 11 growth, and does not create a security risk; now, therefore, 12 13 BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the State of New Jersey: 14 15 1. The United States House of Representatives and the United 16 States Senate are urged not to pass H.R.3261 or S.968 in their 17 respective current forms. 18 19 2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the 20 President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary of the Senate, 21 shall be transmitted to the sponsor of H.R.3261, Representative 22 of Texas, the sponsor of S.968, Senator Patrick J. 23 Leahy of Vermont, and every member of the United States Senate 24 and the House of Representatives elected from this State. 25 26 27 STATEMENT 28 29 This resolution urges the United States House of Representatives 30 and the United States Senate not to pass H.R.3261, commonly 31 referred to as the “Stop Online Piracy Act” or “SOPA,” or S.968, 32 commonly referred to as the “Preventing Real Online Threats to 33 Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act” or 34 “PIPA,” in their respective current forms. 35 SOPA and PIPA are intended to curb online piracy facilitated by 36 websites based outside the United States and thus outside the reach 37 of U.S. law. In conjunction, SOPA and PIPA would curb online 38 piracy by foreign websites by requiring: (1) search engines, such as 39 Google, to remove a “foreign infringing site” from its indexes; (2) 40 advertisers and U.S.-based payment services, such as PayPal, to 41 stop doing business with foreign sites that are found to be 42 “dedicated to infringing activities”; and (3) Internet service 43 providers, or “ISPs,” to block users from accessing specific 44 websites using a technique known as “DNS blocking.” 45 SOPA and PIPA would make it illegal to inform users how to 46 access blocked websites, which could be interpreted to require 47 websites that feature user-generated content, such as Facebook and 48 YouTube, to actively monitor their website for circumvention

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1 information. The bills also provide Internet service providers with 2 immunity to block any website that it determines “in good faith” 3 and “through credible evidence” is devoted to illegally distributing 4 copyrighted material. 5 Despite strong support from numerous companies and interest 6 groups, including the United States Chamber of Congress, the 7 Motion Picture Association of America, and Pharmaceutical 8 Research and Manufacturers of America, the opposition toward 9 SOPA and PIPA has grown significantly over the preceding 10 months, resulting in nearly 1,000,000 Americans calling their 11 Congressional representatives through a single opposition website. 12 Opponents of SOPA and PIPA, including internet security experts, 13 numerous technology companies and their founders, public interest 14 groups, human rights organizations, venture capitalists, law 15 professors, entrepreneurs, and millions of everyday Americans, 16 have raised concerns that, as currently drafted, the bills could 17 impinge on First Amendment rights, stifle innovation, stunt job 18 growth, and compromise the functioning of the Internet. 19 Some critics, including Vint Cerf, one of the “fathers of the 20 Internet,” and 90 other Internet experts that signed an open letter to 21 Congress, have voiced specific concerns regarding DNS blocking 22 because it could cause damage to the underlying structure of the 23 internet. Others have argued that the bills’ overly broad language 24 makes its provisions ripe for abuse by overzealous copyright 25 holders, as has repeatedly happened under the authority granted to 26 copyright holders by the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act. 27 Recently, the White House echoed many of the concerns raised 28 by the opponents of SOPA and PIPA, asserting that the Obama 29 Administration would not support any legislation that “reduces 30 freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines 31 the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” 32 Therefore, more time is necessary to consider the potential 33 ramifications of implementing the measures authorized in SOPA 34 and PIPA and to ensure that any legislation designed to protect 35 American intellectual property does so in a way that conforms to 36 First Amendment principles, encourages innovation and job growth, 37 and does not create a security risk.