A Compromise Makes Sense

[Commentary] The "content industry" establishment, led by the Motion Picture Association of America, has over the last 30 years been handed a series of statutory sledgehammers aimed at addressing copyright infringement. Now, with a pair of antipiracy bills pending in the House and Senate, the association appears to have drastically overreached. It looks as if the White House is seeking a compromise Stop Online Piracy Act/Protect Intellectual Property Act "follow the money" statute, which would avoid tinkering with the plumbing of the Internet or conscripting a broad group of online intermediaries into service as private police. Instead, this law would force payment processors to cut off services to sites that are found by a judicial officer to violate existing law. We've taken a similar step for gambling in the past, and this would be a far better way to proceed.

[Crawford is the (visiting) Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at Harvard's Kennedy School and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School]