18 Jan 2012 National Center for Public Policy Research Supports Internet Campaign Against SOPA and PIPA

Places CENSORED Banner on Website, Says Issa/Wyden OPEN Proposal a Better Approach to Protecting Copyright Without Endangering Free Speech or the Internet

Washington, D.C. – The following statement from Amy Ridenour, chairman of the National Center for Public Policy Research, can be used for attribution:

In support of the Internet campaign drawing attention to dangerous provisions of the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and its Senate counterpart, PIPA, the National Center for Public Policy Research today placed a “CENSORED” banner on the corner of every page of its nationalcenter.org website.

Visitors who click the banner will trigger a popup that provides additional information about SOPA and the opportunity to conveniently contact their Senators or tweet about it.

No organization supports property rights more than the National Center for Public Policy Research, but SOPA would ineffectively guard the property rights of some while effectively curtailing the property and free speech rights of others. It may be unconstitutional.

Do Americans want the federal government telling Google, Bing and other search engines what sites they can and cannot list in their results? We’re betting they don’t, and that the more they learn about SOPA and PIPA, the less they’ll like it.

Stopping online piracy is a good goal, but it should not be accomplished through piracy of its own. There are sound reasons to believe SOPA and PIPA would not accomplish the goals of their backers, but they may lead over time to massive regulation of the Internet. Let’s not go down that road.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) have proposed expanding the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to cover copyright and trademark infringement of digital goods. Their proposal is being introduced in Congress as the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act. We believe this approach has a greater likelihood of achieving the proper goal of copyright protection without endangering free speech or the Internet.

The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank with over 100,000 recent supporters. Contributions to it are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated.

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