Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Piracy legislation ultimately misses the mark

By Vic DeMarines, vice president, products, V.i. Laboratories Inc.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee met with witnesses from key copyright industry stakeholders to debate the merits of a bill known as SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act. The bill has a lofty goal, but the execution of such a plan is tricky. Similar pieces of legislation, such as the Senate’s 2011 PROTECT-IP Act and 2010 Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) have failed to become law because of enforcement and execution challenges. SOPA faces a similar uphill battle.

Public criticism to date has focused on implications of Internet censorship and homeland security risks — not associated with piracy itself, but with the proposed enforcement methods. In opposition to the bill, many dubbed the day “American Censorship Day,” and a number of websites blacked out their mastheads to show disapproval.

Unfortunately, the frenzy over fears of censorship has quickly overshadowed the actual intent and purpose of the bill: Take action against online piracy, theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement. As Congressman Mark Amodei (Nev.) observed during the hearing, in the pursuit of good, the public has lost sight of the true goal by becoming wrapped up in the pursuit of perfect.

Regardless, dialog around the issue of piracy at both the public and government levels is good. It’s a step in the right direction toward reducing a multi-billion dollar economic issue. The legislation itself, however, fails to reach the heart of the problem and has little chance to succeed as a tool to stamp out piracy.

Research and history have both shown that fighting piracy in the channel is a hopeless endeavor. Michael O’Leary, senior executive vice president of Global Policy and External Affairs for the MPAA said it best during his testimony – pirates will always be one step ahead of us. It is the simple truth of crime. This is why Microsoft can take down nearly a million links from rogue websites each month without even making a dent in piracy rates, and it’s why current and former legislation will fail to make a difference.

To Mr. O’Leary’s point, if we can’t stop piracy altogether, what can be done to reduce the rate of piracy? Reactively attacking the channel is a fruitless endeavor. However, focusing on the adopters of pirated goods – understanding their motivations, methods and needs – will impact piracy rates and can even help intellectual property owners recoup some of what they have lost to piracy. For many companies, it can mean a difference of millions of dollars in revenue. 

Instead of giving law enforcement carte blanche against site owners and providers, this bill should give content owners the tools to better educate the public about the risks and impact of piracy, and capabilities to better identify and pursue individual infringers that are significantly and negatively affecting their livelihoods.

Currently, witnesses from Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee are preparing additional materials for the case, which for some must include positioning and responses to DNS security concerns that have been raised. The bill faces a long road filled with opposition and must pass debate and voting in both the House and Senate before it reaches the President’s desk. In its current form, the bill is not likely to pass into law. Where it has succeeded though is in moving the issue of piracy into the public spotlight and fostering a healthy debate on the threat of copyright theft for the content industries. Massachusetts is home to a number of companies that face piracy every day, including software developers, artists and drug manufacturers. It is the result of their work that we can live better and more enriched lives. We owe it to them, as our neighbors, to be aware of the issues and support positive and effective action on the part of our representatives in Congress.

 

Victor DeMarines is founder and vice president of products at V.i. Laboratories Inc. He previously has worked as a senior product manager at RSA Security, and as director of product management at Authentica.