I received the following email from Sen. Al Franken about an hour ago (whole letter below the fold):
Dear (Brainwrap),
As you may know, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided not to bring the PROTECT IP Act (the Senate’s version of SOPA) up for a vote next week. And since I’ve heard from many of you about this issue, I wanted to take a moment to share why I support copyright protection legislation – as well as why I believe holding off on this bill is the right thing to do.
As someone who has worked hard to protect net neutrality, I understand as well as anyone the importance of keeping the Internet free from undue corporate influence. There are millions of Americans who rely on a free and open Internet to learn, communicate with friends and family, and do business.
At the same time, there are millions of Americans whose livelihoods rely on strong protections for intellectual property: middle-class workers – most of them union workers – in all 50 states, thousands of them here in Minnesota, working in a variety of industries from film production to publishing to software development.
If we don’t protect our intellectual property, international criminals – as well as legitimate businesses like payment processors and ad networks – will continue to profit dishonestly from the work these Americans are doing every day. And that puts these millions of jobs at serious risk.
That’s reason enough to act. But these criminals are also putting Minnesota families in danger by flooding our nation with counterfeit products – not just bootleg movies and software, but phony medications and knockoff equipment for first responders.
We cannot simply shrug off the threat of online piracy. We cannot do nothing.
I have supported the approach Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has taken in crafting legislation to respond to the threat of online piracy – and I appreciate his leadership on this important issue.
But I’ve also been listening carefully to the debate – and to the many Minnesotans who have told me via email, Facebook, Twitter, and good old fashioned phone calls that they are worried about what this bill would mean for the future of the Internet.
Frankly, there is a lot of misinformation floating around out there: If this bill really did some of the things people have heard it would do (like shutting down YouTube), I would never have supported it.
But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take seriously the concerns people have shared. And if holding off on this legislation gives us an opportunity to take a step back and try to bring everybody back to the table, I think it’s the right thing to do. This is a difficult issue, and also an important one. It’s worth getting this right.
I strongly believe that we need to protect intellectual property – and protect the free and open Internet. I think most people, even those who have expressed concern about this particular bill, agree. And it’s my hope that we can now build a stronger consensus around how to accomplish these two important goals.
Thanks for reading. And for those of you who have written to me about this issue (even if it was an angry letter), thanks for being honest with me. I’ll always return the favor.
--Al
Given the fuss & bother that Kos whipped up with his "Have her Cake and Eat It Too" diary about Kirsten Gillibrand, I figured that Franken's diary was worthy of a similar discussion.
On the one hand, Gillibrand was pushing for PIPA right up until the moment it became clear that it was dead anyway, and then issued a statement claiming to have changed her mind on the topic.
On the other hand, she's also been almost single-handedly responsible for DADT being repealed, along with a host of other solid progressive work since becoming a Senator.
On the one hand, Franken seems to be doing essentially the same thing here--pushing for PIPA, and only "changing his mind" after it became clear that the bill was dead in the water anyway.
On the other hand, Franken is almost single-handedly responsible for ensuring that rape victims can't be forced to sign away their right to sue their employers for fostering a hostile work environment.
So, as someone who not only blacked out his own site and spread the word via Facebook and Twitter, but who even risked potentially losing a couple of clients by sending out a politically-charged email to all of my clients about SOPA/PIPA on Wednesday, should I shun Democratic Senators like Gillibrand and Franken for pushing this horrible legislation so persistently, or should I let it go as a moot point now (assuming they don't keep pushing an equally destructive version of this bill in the future)?
My own Senators here in Michigan, Levin and Stabenow, never took a public position on SOPA/PIPA one way or the other before it was killed today, so I don't have to deal with the question when it comes to them. Of course, Levin co-authored NDAA with John McCain, so there's that...
The thing is, every Senator/Congressperson, no matter how progressive, is going to have a few areas where they're on the wrong side of the argument. In some cases it'll be because of special interest influence (remember when Joe Biden was known as the Senator from MBNA?), in other cases they might just be flat-out ignorant about that particular subject.
The problem is, the best even remotely realistic situation would be having every Democratic member of Congress taking the right position on, say, 90% of the topics at hand...except that the remaining 10% is going to vary depending on the particular politician, what state they represent, and so on. One might be great on everything except environmental issues; another might be great on everything except gay rights; a third might be great on everything except reproductive rights, and so on.
The eternal question, of course, is where is the line to be drawn? Believe me, I won't lose any sleep over the prospect of losing Ben Nelson's seat in Nebraska...except insofar as that happening would also make it more likely that we lose control of the Senate. On the other hand, it's also unrealistic to expect a Democrat to win statewide office in Nebraska with the same policy positions as a Democrat from Vermont.
Thoughts?