Technology Companies and Hollywood Are Sparring Over Proposed Legislation

                There is legislation bouncing around Congress that would increase the powers that the Justice Department would have to shut down sites which host pirated material (primarily movies and music).  The legislation would also allow movie studios, music companies, and other Copyright holders to seek injunctions against internet companies who they believe would be aiding in the pirating.  According to estimates, pirating costs Copyright owners approximately $ 68 billion (yes, with a "B") a year.  It is no secret that there has been a piracy problem with the advent of the internet.  In fact, movies are uploaded on the internet within days or hours of their release (sometimes before then, too). 

                Not surprisingly, those in Hollywood and in the music industry are strongly in favor of this legislation.  It would allow these Copyright owners a large arrow in their anti-piracy quiver.  On the other side of the legislation are the new media giants (Google, Ebay, Yahoo, Facebook, etc.) who innovate or create better search engines or sharing technologies.  A fledgling Silicon Valley company would prefer to allocate its resources towards their core technology rather than legal fees.  Moreover, the technology companies believe that the legislation wraps them in the same cloak as those who are the actual thieves despite their merely providing the technology making it possible.  The technology companies also argue that the legislation threatens their right to free speech and would wrongly shut down or curtail their ability to become profitable.  Further the Silicon Valley side claim that simply because wrongdoers use their technology for wrongdoing (something that the technology companies may not intend or anticipate) is not their problem. 

                In the current economic situation, this fight could severely hamstring two large industries' ability to survive or grow.  Unfortunately, because piracy and theft of copyrighted works costs these American companies so much and because they are usually unable to stop the real perpetrators, Congress apparently feels the need to widen the scope of who can be held accountable.  Such legislation would undoubtedly hamper those technology companies who rely on internet commerce.  As I see it, the legislation is akin to shutting down a gun store because one of the gun store's customers used their purchased product to commit a crime.   The Hollywood side of the argument would be that shutting down the gun store would shut down the crime.  Silicon Valley responds by pointing out that for every "bad" customer, there are several others who do not commit a crime and that the gun store should not be judge, jury, and executioner of its customers. 

                Both sides have a compelling argument, but it seems to me that favoring one industry over another is a mistake--even more so in this economic climate.  Hopefully, Congress will find some other solution to this dilemma.