Bold Senate anti-piracy bill garners support, complaints
A new bill may change what you're able to see on the web. The bill is aimed at going after material online, like pirated movies, that violates copyright laws. It has bipartisan support in the Senate, but advocates of a freer, less regulated Internet say it takes too broad an approach to law enforcement. We explore the bill and get an update on it.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering a bill aimed at blocking sales of illegally pirated material and shutting down web sites dedicated to distributing illegal movies, TV shows, music. It’s called the Combating Online Infringement and Copyrights Act.
The bill’s sponsors claim that $100 billion is lost over pirated material every year, money that should be going to the rightful creators and distributors of movies, TV shows, and other material.
Critics say the bill is too broad about who gets punished. For instance, if a website has some links to pirated material, it could be shut down just as easily as sites exclusively dedicated to such activity.
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) joins us to explain the rationale for the bill and to update us on the changes being made to it as it goes through committee. We’re also joined by Wendy Seltzer of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
