Senate Committee Unanimously Approves PROTECT IP Act

The US Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the PROTECT IP Act, or the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act. It has yet to gain full approval by the entire Senate, however. Chairman of the committee Patrick Leahy said, “Few things are more important to the future of the American economy and job creation than protecting our intellectual property. At a time where our country is beginning to regain its economic footing, businesses face an additional hurdle, the severity of which is increasing by the day – digital theft.” What the bill allows the Department of Justice to do is “allow copyright holders to seek court orders requiring payment processors and online ad networks to stop doing business with allegedly infringing websites.” There has been much criticism of the bill, notably a recent paper by five Internet engineers as well as the deputy legal director of a digital rights group called Public Knowledge, who said that the bill, “threatens the security and global functioning of the Internet, and opens the door to nuisance lawsuits while doing little if anything to curb the issues of international source of illegal downloads the bill seeks to address.” Read more on it here, and read the bill here.