The 40-nation Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, made public on Wednesday morning, isn’t the only attack on piracy that’s bringing smiles to faces in Hollywood.
The U.S. Senate’s proposed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act -- introduced into committee by Sen. Patrick Leahy late last month -- also is making the movie and music industry folks happy.
But despite the assurance that its intent is to target “the worst of the worst counterfeiters and copyright pirates online,” a growing number of critics say there is no evidence it will actually work.
The problem, critics contend, is that it isn’t likely to do much to stop sites that provide access to unauthorized downloads.
In fact, it could endanger legal sites.
Still a long way from passage, the legislation gives the Department of Justice and the courts the power to pull the plug on sites that infringe on American intellectual property such as software, movies, television shows and music.
It also would allow the DOJ to compel internet service providers like AT&T or Verizon to block U.S. access to infringing sites it identifies -- the very behavior the U.S. has long criticized in nations like China and Iran.
If it were law today, sites like Pirate Bay would disappear from American computer screens, which many -- especially in the industry -- think would be appropriate.
"What this bill says to the world is that in the United States we favor legitimacy, and we will not promote or protect these type of sites that are profiting from stealing our stuff," Michael O'Leary, the MPAA's executive vice president of government relations, told TheWrap.
Agrees technology consultant Chantal Payette: “The sites that carry this material are no better than drug dealers, they are breaking the law.”
But simply shutting down offending sites may be easier said than done.
"Unless you're going to close down the whole internet or come up with a new business model, you are never going to be able to stop people sharing digital content, legally or illegally," a music industry insider who has watched past attempts to stop piracy flounder told TheWrap.
Indeed, earlier this summer, after the government launched Operation In Our Sites, its latest attempt at targeting online piracy, the MPAA and others found out just how limited their version of legitimacy could be.
Law enforcement officials in New York seized the domain names of TVShack.net, Movies-links.tv, and others illegally showing first-run films and shut them down. It worked -- like efforts to stifle the BitTorrent site Pirate Bay. But just for a while.
The U.S. Attorney may have pledged at the time that “if your business model is movie piracy, your story will not have a happy ending”-- but within days the newly created and now off-shore TVShack.cc sprung right back up.
"What you're talking about," says the pessimistic label executive, "is like finding a glass of water in the ocean, and it's too fluid to ever get your hands on."
