The House version of the US PROTECT IP bill has been published, with a new name: the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act of 2011. Yes, the E-PARASITE Act, although its short title is the Stop Online Piracy Act. As ever with this kind of legislation, the debate appears to be polarised between rightsholders welcoming the Act’s promise to take action even against “foreign infringing sites”, while the technology industry is angry about the potentially wide scope of the Act. We’re still awaiting quotes from the rightsholder side of the equation, but Techdirt provides a crisp summary of the opposition to the Act: “The bill effectively takes what the entertainment industry wanted the Supreme Court to say in Grokster (which it did not say) and puts it into US law. In other words, any foreign site declared by the Attorney General to be ‘inducing’ infringement, with a very broad definition of inducing, can now be censored by the US. With no adversarial hearing. Hello, Great Firewall of America.” Expect the arguments to continue. Source: Billboard
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