Bill Text: NJ SR37 | 2012-2013 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges Congress not to pass "Stop Online Piracy Act" or "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act" in their respective current forms.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-30 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee [SR37 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2012-SR37-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator NIA H. GILL
District 34 (Essex and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Urges Congress not to pass "Stop Online Piracy Act" or "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act" in their respective current forms.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution urging the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to not pass H.R.3261 or S.968 in their respective current forms.
Whereas, The United States House of Representatives is currently considering H.R.3261, commonly referred to as the "Stop Online Piracy Act" or "SOPA"; and
Whereas, The United States Senate is currently considering S.968, commonly referred to as the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act" or "PIPA"; and
Whereas, These bills are intended to curb online piracy facilitated by websites based outside the United States and thus outside the reach of U.S. law; and
Whereas, SOPA and PIPA, in conjunction, attempt to curb online piracy by foreign websites by requiring: (1) search engines, such as Google, to remove a "foreign infringing site" from its indexes; (2) advertisers and U.S.-based payment services, such as PayPal, to stop doing business with foreign sites that are found to be "dedicated to infringing activities"; and (3) Internet service providers, or "ISPs," to block users from accessing specific websites using a technique known as "DNS blocking"; and
Whereas, SOPA and PIPA also make it illegal to inform users how to access blocked websites, which could be interpreted to require websites that feature user-generated content, such as Facebook and YouTube, to actively monitor their website for circumvention information; and
Whereas, SOPA and PIPA provide ISPs with immunity to block any website that the ISP determines "in good faith" and "through credible evidence" is devoted to illegally distributing copyrighted material; and
Whereas, Opponents of SOPA and PIPA, including internet security experts, numerous technology companies and their founders, public interest groups, human rights organizations, venture capitalists, law professors, entrepreneurs, and millions of everyday Americans, have raised concerns that, as currently drafted, the bills could impinge on First Amendment rights, stifle innovation, stunt job growth, and compromise the functioning of the Internet; and
Whereas, Some critics, including Vint Cerf, one of the "fathers of the Internet," and 90 other Internet experts that signed an open letter to Congress, have voiced specific concerns regarding DNS blocking because it could cause damage to the underlying structure of the Internet; and
Whereas, Other critics have argued that the bills' overly broad language makes its provisions ripe for abuse by overzealous copyright holders, as has repeatedly happened under the authority granted to copyright holders by the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act; and
Whereas, The White House recently echoed many of the concerns raised by the opponents of SOPA and PIPA, asserting that the Obama Administration would not support any legislation that "reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet"; and
Whereas, More time is necessary to consider the potential ramifications of implementing the measures authorized in SOPA and PIPA and to ensure that any legislation designed to protect American intellectual property does so in a way that conforms to First Amendment principles, encourages innovation and job growth, and does not create a security risk; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. The United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate are urged not to pass H.R.3261 or S.968 in their respective current forms.
2. Duly authenticated copies of this resolution, signed by the President of the Senate and attested by the Secretary of the Senate, shall be transmitted to the sponsor of H.R.3261, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, the sponsor of S.968, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, and every member of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate not to pass H.R.3261, commonly referred to as the "Stop Online Piracy Act" or "SOPA," or S.968, commonly referred to as the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act" or "PIPA," in their respective current forms.
SOPA and PIPA are intended to curb online piracy facilitated by websites based outside the United States and thus outside the reach of U.S. law. In conjunction, SOPA and PIPA would curb online piracy by foreign websites by requiring: (1) search engines, such as Google, to remove a "foreign infringing site" from its indexes; (2) advertisers and U.S.-based payment services, such as PayPal, to stop doing business with foreign sites that are found to be "dedicated to infringing activities"; and (3) Internet service providers, or "ISPs," to block users from accessing specific websites using a technique known as "DNS blocking."
SOPA and PIPA would make it illegal to inform users how to access blocked websites, which could be interpreted to require websites that feature user-generated content, such as Facebook and YouTube, to actively monitor their website for circumvention information. The bills also provide Internet service providers with immunity to block any website that it determines "in good faith" and "through credible evidence" is devoted to illegally distributing copyrighted material.
Despite strong support from numerous companies and interest groups, including the United States Chamber of Congress, the Motion Picture Association of America, and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the opposition toward SOPA and PIPA has grown significantly over the preceding months, resulting in nearly 1,000,000 Americans calling their Congressional representatives through a single opposition website. Opponents of SOPA and PIPA, including internet security experts, numerous technology companies and their founders, public interest groups, human rights organizations, venture capitalists, law professors, entrepreneurs, and millions of everyday Americans, have raised concerns that, as currently drafted, the bills could impinge on First Amendment rights, stifle innovation, stunt job growth, and compromise the functioning of the Internet.
Some critics, including Vint Cerf, one of the "fathers of the Internet," and 90 other Internet experts that signed an open letter to Congress, have voiced specific concerns regarding DNS blocking because it could cause damage to the underlying structure of the internet. Others have argued that the bills' overly broad language makes its provisions ripe for abuse by overzealous copyright holders, as has repeatedly happened under the authority granted to copyright holders by the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Recently, the White House echoed many of the concerns raised by the opponents of SOPA and PIPA, asserting that the Obama Administration would not support any legislation that "reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."
Therefore, more time is necessary to consider the potential ramifications of implementing the measures authorized in SOPA and PIPA and to ensure that any legislation designed to protect American intellectual property does so in a way that conforms to First Amendment principles, encourages innovation and job growth, and does not create a security risk.
