Bipartisan bill would ramp up anti-piracy enforcement online

A bipartisan bill unveiled Sept 20 would make it easier for the Justice Department to shut down websites that traffic pirated music, movies and counterfeit goods.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee including Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which would create an expedited process for DoJ to shut down websites providing pirated materials. "Each year, online piracy and the sale of counterfeit goods costs American businesses billions of dollars, and result in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs," said Sen Leahy. "Protecting intellectual property is not uniquely a Democratic or Republican priority -- it is a bipartisan priority." The other sponsors are Sens. Herb Kohl (D-WI), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Evan Bayh (D-IN) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio). The bill will be added to the agenda for the Committee's Sept 23 business meeting.

Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director for Public Knowledge, said, "We welcome the legislation by Chairman Leahy and his colleagues as a good-faith effort to combat infringement. However, in doing so, we also must point out some reservations we have about the bill in its current form. The bill has some troubling political and technical implications, particularly as it attempts to extend U.S. control over the worldwide Internet addressing system. Domestically, we are concerned that the bill would establish an Internet black list of sites that the Justice Department thinks are 'pirate' sites but against which it hasn't taken action. Putting an innocent site on this list could seriously harm the business of legitimate Web site operators. The remedies in the bill for those guilty until they prove themselves innocent are inadequate. We are also concerned about some of the vague definitions of what constitutes an infringing site and of the level of proof needed. It's quite possible that this bill would have allowed entertainment companies to throttle YouTube at the beginning of its creation by alleging piracy and the young company would have been unable to defend itself."