A proposed
anti-piracy bill pending in the Senate could make it difficult for online advertisers and credit card companies to continue doing business on the Web, warns a group of law professors.
The
Protect IP Act (S. 968), which recently cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, is aimed at sites "dedicated to infringing activities." The measure enables the Department of Justice to obtain orders
prohibiting Internet service providers from putting through traffic to those sites' URLs. (Web users could still reach the sites by typing in their numerical addresses.)
The Protect IP Act
also provides for court orders forcing Google, Bing and other search engines to stop returning certain results. In addition, the proposed law would require credit-card companies and advertisers to
stop doing business with sites that content owners allege are dedicated to infringement.
"Giving this enormous new power not just to the government but to any copyright and trademark owner
would not only disrupt the operations of the allegedly infringing Web site without a final judgment of wrongdoing, but would make it extraordinarily difficult for advertisers and credit-card companies
to do business on the Internet," the academics allege in a letter drafted by professors Mark Lemley of Stanford, David Levine of Elon and David Post of Temple.
The letter, which is still being
circulated, has so far drawn signatures by more than 90 law professors, Post announced this week on the widely read legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy.
Hollywood is backing the bill, while
digital rights groups and others, including The New York Times and Los Angeles Times, oppose it. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) put a "hold" on the measure shortly after it passed the Judiciary
Committee, but the bill could still be enacted.
A group of prominent venture capitalists and Internet experts have also weighed in against the measure.
The law professors say that the
"practical effect" of the Protect IP Act "would be to kill innovation by technology companies in the media space."
"Anyone who starts such a company is at risk of having their source of
customers and revenue -- indeed, their Web site itself -- disappear at a moment's notice," they argue.