Senator {Durbin/Kirk}:
I write you again to express my opposition to the so-called PIPA bill in the strongest possible terms. While I agree and understand that intellectual property rights are to be respected and the laws around them enforced, this legislation as currently written gives powers that are far too broad to would-be censors.
For starters, it legislates against the engineering protocols of the Internet itself. The workings of the net have been crafted over many, many years by scientists and engineers who know exactly what they are doing after extensive study and research. This bill is akin to legislating that pi = 3.0. America is smarter than this; Congress must let the experts lead the way.
Perhaps the most chilling aspect of it is the danger it presents to first amendment protections and their equivalents abroad. Would the Arab Spring have been possible with an Internet where the MPAA and RIAA can arbitrarily blacklist entire sites if a single piece of copyrighted content is posted?
And what of economic growth? Will the next generation of Internet startups be able to get off the ground if their competitors can silence them for the cost of an email? And leave them without recourse in the courts?
Senator, this is swatting a fly with a nuclear weapon. America must lead the world by having the freest, most open Internet policies anywhere. We must vigorously protect this asset, this engine for economic growth and democratic freedom.
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to abandon this legislation, and work instead on fine-tuning the existing canon of law surrounding the vital protection of intellectual property.
Thank you,
John Scholvin
River Forest
