I was very enthusiastic about yesterday's internet blackout. It was wonderful to see Democrats and Republicans stand up against the monstrosities that are SOPA and PIPA. Not only that, there was widespread opposition to these bills from people of opposing ideologies. I have a hardcore, right-wing aunt and we both applauded that our senator, Marco Rubio, for pulling his support from PIPA. I was deeply disappointed to see that Senator Bill Nelson, who I voted for in 2006, still is supporting PIPA. However, I expect more senators and representatives changing their tune in the following days and start opposing SOPA and PIPA like falling dominoes. While that's happening, we should watch and see who is supporting OPEN, the alternative to SOPA and PIPA.
From Representative Issa's website:
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, officially introduced H.R. 3782, the Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill delivers stronger intellectual property rights for American artists and innovators while protecting the open, accessible Internet Americans deserve. This bipartisan, bicameral bill protects American artists and innovators through the International Trade Commission (ITC), by applying due process to investigate intellectual property infringement claims against foreign "rogue" websites and cuts off funding to sites found to be willfully and primarily trafficking infringed material. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has introduced the OPEN Act in the U.S. Senate.
"OPEN is a targeted, effective solution to the problem of foreign, rogue websites stealing from American artists and innovators," said Issa. "Today's Internet blackout has underscored the flawed approach taken by SOPA and PIPA to the real problem of intellectual property infringement. OPEN is a smarter way to protect taxpayers' rights while protecting the Internet."
More after the fold.
Rep. Issa and Sen. Wyden have created a website dedicated to OPEN. It has the OPEN bill in its entirety as well as the changes that have been made to OPEN. Unlike how SOPA and PIPA were designed behind closed doors, OPEN supporters have asked the "nerds" to contribute their technical expertise.
http://keepthewebopen.com/
Republican and Democratic supporters of OPEN have made YouTube ads as well:
Supporters of the bill created the following chart claiming the differences SOPA, PIPA, and OPEN:
The faq section further explains the differences:
How does the OPEN Act differ from the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act?
The OPEN Act takes a much narrower and more targeted approach to combating online
infringement than other proposed legislation by targeting only sites “primarily and willfully” engaging in infringement. By employing such a clear and targeted definition of infringement, the OPEN Act will ensure that only legitimate cases are pursued while giving ITC commissioners clear standards to follow in enforcing IP rules. Definitions advanced by other pieces of legislation employ broader standards that would require many website operators to employ lawyers to argue that it is not engaging in IP infringement. Such broad definitions could be used to discourage innovation and quash free speech.
While other legislation would employ a one-‐‑sided process in which judges would only hear from rights holders, by putting the ITC in charge of IP investigations, the OPEN Act would ensure an adversarial process in which all parties have an opportunity to be heard. Unlike other legislation the OPEN Act does not interfere in the Domaine Name System or go after sites or search engines that simply link to websites that host infringing content. Rather the OPEN Act would combat online infringement simply by cutting off a foreign site’s ability to profit from the sale of fake merchandise or content they don’t own.
I find the idea behind OPEN to be very fascinating. The biggest SOPA and PIPA opponents from the right and the left in Congress have collaborated in crafting legislation that tries to balance copyright protection with freedom of speech on the internet. I favor OPEN as it currently stands, if anything for the process in which it's designed. Unfortunately, there is little discussion on the internet (including here) about OPEN due to attention elsewhere. Thus, I'd like to write diaries covering the development (both good and bad) of OPEN. Hopefully, OPEN will only change with constructive input from technical experts so that it could protect copyrights without resorting to legislation like SOPA and PIPA.
I plan to elaborate more on my opinions about OPEN as well as criticisms and praise for the bill from other sources. For now, I'd just like to hear from others in this community regarding SOPA, PIPA, and especially OPEN.
Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 4:33 AM PT: Thank you for placing this in the Community Spotlight. I'll try to find what little news and developments there are on #OPEN.
Fri Jan 20, 2012 at 8:03 AM PT: Senator Wyden has tweeted this:
"For all those who might have thought that their voice didn’t count in their government, I hope you now know it does."