Supporters of SOPA in the US House of Representatives and PIPA in the US Senate watched the bills fall off a cliff after a massive campaign of website darkness that was executed to strong effect 1/18/12. An alternative bill from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has now attracted and attack from the RIAA, which argues that OPEN provides no effective deterrent to piracy at all.
According to a Hillicon Valley report, RIAA sent material to every member of Congress asking them to resist any attempt to pass OPEN.
SOPA and PIPA fell because the internet providers side believed that they could be victimized by overzealous enforcement of copyrights, whether or not they were consciously doing anything to forward acts of content piracy.
RIAA believes that OPEN goes too far in the other direction, and sets the bar so high that it will be almost impossible to enforce a copyright online and argues that the bill might even make the problem worse.
According to Hillicon Valley, Issa is unimpressed – he suggests RIAA either get on board with OPEN or come to the bargaining table and help come up with something better.
RBR-TVBR observation: If ever an issue was screaming for the rival camps to come together for a meeting of the minds, it’s this one. Hollywood and Silicon Valley should meet at a symbolic halfway point – say, San Luis Obispo – and try to come up with halfway-point language that both parties can live with, and take it to Congress as the basis for the next attempt at a bill.
