On Sunday, The Washington Post published an editorial on the still-urgent need for legislation to combat online piracy by foreign-operated websites. The editorial agreed with comments made earlier in the week by U.S. Senator Chris Coons that the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) went too far, but that the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) was measured and appropriate. Senator Coons is a cosponsor of the PROTECT IP Act, and after leaders announced this week that a vote on the bill would be delayed, the Senator pledged to support continued efforts to reach a consensus that protects both American intellectual property and Internet freedom.
Internet giants such as Google railed against the bills [PROTECT IP and SOPA], arguing they sanctioned government censorship and threatened the viability and security of the Internet. The protests culminated last week in a remarkable, largely unprecedented protest during which sites such as Wikipedia temporarily went dark. Millions of individuals — many of them armed with distorted descriptions of the bills — phoned, e-mailed, and used social networks to demand that they be quashed.
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Some opponents will fight any regulation of the Internet. This should not be acceptable. A free and viable Internet is essential to nurturing and sustaining the kinds of revolutionary innovations that have touched every aspect of modern life. But freedom and lawlessness are not synonymous. The Constitution does not protect the right to steal, and that is true whether it is in a bricks-and-mortar store or online.
Click here to read the full editorial on the Washington Post’s web site.
Click here to read Senator Coons’ recent statement on the PROTECT IP Act.