Welcoming the new Internet Czar

Author: Jared Fallon

Session after session politicians continually craft new ways to get more control on the last free media frontier we have – the internet. The latest bill to pass is the worst one to come along this congressional session. Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) S.3325 states its reason for existence is to “enhance remedies for violations of intellectual property laws and for other purposes”. It’s the “other purposes” that should have people concerned.

Among the bills’ 63 pages includes the creation of “Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator” – an Internet Czar empowered to help the government sue for copyright infringement. The actual bill text states that the main goals of the act are to “enhance the efficiency and consistency” with Federal Funds in order to “enforce, investigate, or prosecute intellectual property crimes”. Consistent efficiency should never be valued above free, unrestricted journalism but as we all know, money talks. The supporters of the bill from the private sector include a handful of Hollywood personnel, the recording industry, various labor unions and the US Chamber of Commerce. On the con side we find hosts of freelance journalists and groups such as Public Knowledge, a Washington DC public interest group working to defend the future of the media frontier.

Other related pending legislation that also should be tracked includes H.R.4279 and S.522. The first seeks to create an IP Dictator at the Department of Justice while the latter aims to further increase intellectual property rights enforcement. For the most up-to-date information available on the web for this and other pending policies click here.

It will be interesting to see how this policy not only affects the future of current copyright infringement laws but future proposed legislation as well. To those spreading the word and maintaining dialogue out there don’t give up, this is an uphill war that just lost a battle.