The following statement is attributed to
Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“The new House legislation (HR 3261)
is an unwarranted expansion of government power to protect one special
interest. The bill would overturn
the long-accepted principles and practices of the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act notice and takedown process in favor of a one-sided enforcement mechanism
that is far more broad than existing law while not attempting to protect the
rights of anyone accused of copyright infringement.
“In addition, anyone who writes about,
or links to, a site suspected of infringement could also become a target of
government action. The bill also
features the now well-known dangers to the engineering of the Internet
domain-name system (DNS), endangering Internet security while requiring
Internet Service Providers and search engines to take on vast new
responsibilities to block access to suspected sites.
“There is no need for a bill this
sweeping and this Draconian. There
are simple, easily implemented solution on which industry and others agree —
such as cutting off the ability of credit-card companies to fulfill payments to
sites that traffic in copyright infringement.
“At a time when Congress and the Obama
Administration are trying to cut back on sweeping, overbroad regulation, we are
disappointed that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith and his
co-sponsors have chosen this means of establishing a vast new regulatory regime
over the Internet.”