Today a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation that has significant interest for those of us involved in the music industry as well as those of us who value the freedom we currently have on the internet.
The law is called the “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” and was introduced as an attempt to combat piracy of music, movies and other products ranging from pharmaceuticals to various consumer products. This new law would allow the Department of Justice to track and shut down a website that is “…primarily designed, has no demonstrable, commercially significant purpose or use other than…to offer goods or services in violation of title 17, United States Code,” in other words, websites currently offering access to illegal downloads, streaming, or sale of copyrighted content and counterfeit products. The way the law works now, it is up to the copyright holders or a third-party trade group to file a civil suit. Under this new law, this responsibility would be shifted to the Department of Justice.
When Brent first brought this topic up with me, I thought it was a great idea. As a musician who releases music on his own label I have begun to fully support more restrictions on illegal downloads. I love the music industry, I work within it, and I don’t want to see it brought to its knees. But I also love the freedom of the internet and as I researched this more, reading different perspectives on it, I began to see the potential threats this could pose to that precious internet freedom.
Brent had mentioned that one problem he had was that the Department of Justice wouldn’t have the capabilities to differentiate between a website offering illegal downloads and, for example, a blog where the artist is simply offering free streaming or downloading of an exclusive track.
Another argument that I read on huliq.com is that this new law would give the Department of Justice the power to block the domain of a given website that they deem illegal, therefore making certain parts of the internet “off limits.” This could be seen as essentially the same sort of internet censorship done in the Peoples Republic of China. It’s likely that it would encourage underground users and other countries to create their own DNS servers….essentially creating an “underground” internet and killing the “world wide web” as we know it.
I guess the main problem I’m having is giving the Department of Justice the power to shut down any website that it deems as being in violation of copyright laws. Right now they’re focusing on bit torrent sites but who’s to say they won’t go after folks making mix tapes and trading them online or after artists that are seeking exposure by offering free downloads? I think I need more reassurances that this isn’t going to happen before I support this legislation. We should keep our eyes on this. It’s in its infant stage and still needs to go into committee and put up for a vote but it has the potential to seriously infringe internet freedom if not kept in check.
Law's should be drafted that protect copyrights while at the same time limiting the government’s ability to restrict the general freedom of the internet. When that balance is struck, successful protections will have been achieved for all parties. That should be the main goal.
