The U.S. House of Representatives introduced new legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act, today which is supported by the RIAA. The bill is designed to provide the Department of Justice with resources to prevent offshore “rogue” sites from offering access to illicit and counterfeit goods. A a hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act will take place on November 16, 2011.
The bill is the houses version of the Senates PROTECT IP bill. The PROTECT IP legislation was introduced by Sen. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and currently has 34 bipartisan co-sponsors.
Upon the introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act, Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO, RIAA, offered the following statement:
Whether youre in a taxicab in Paris, a hotel in Calcutta or a restaurant in Tokyo, American music can be heard the world over. The global appeal of American music is also a prime reason that rogue operators set up shop overseas and offer easy access to illegal downloads that pay nothing to creators and result in thousands of lost jobs and fewer opportunities for aspiring musicians.
This legislation as suggested by the RIAA, is a first step towards a brighter day when these rogue offshore websites can no longer duck accountability under U.S. laws, all the while providing a critical boost to the marketplace for legal digital music services.
While, I think the RIAA is once again using it’s lobbying arm to coerce a continued course along a dying model, I do support efforts to protect american intellectual property rights. However, I have strong reservations about the effectiveness of an extra-territorial effort to enforce U.S laws on developing countries like China or India.