Advanced Television

MPAA’s Dodd: Targeted legislation needed for rogue sites

January 6, 2012

By Colin Mann

Reinforcing remarks mid-December that creative technology and creative content were “absolutely essential to each other”, Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA has stated that the future of commerce and content on the Internet will be guided by technology companies and the entertainment industry growing together

Speaking on Bloomberg TV’s Bloomberg West, Dodd talked about the importance of Congress acting now to pass legislation to target foreign criminal websites that profit from stolen American goods and content at the cost of American jobs.

“The Internet has been an incredible asset for people all over the world, creating access to information that was unavailable even a few years ago. This ought not to be a situation where you have to choose between technology and content. Content needs technology and technology needs content; and these two communities absolutely need each other for the future,” he averred.

Dodd also said there should be a focus on the real problem of foreign criminal websites. “When you have international criminals, foreign sites stealing the intellectual property, the copyright of businesses, not only the film and television industry but also other industries that have knockoff products being stolen, intellectual property being stolen from aerospace, from things such as bullet-proof vests and equipment for fire-fighters. This is a serious issue that deserves attention. I will give the technology industry credit for this. No one is arguing about whether we ought to deal with these rogue criminal foreign sites that steal American jobs and products. We all understand something needs to be done. We’re now arguing about how best to do this. And that’s a major breakthrough,” he concluded.

Categories: Articles, Content, Piracy, Policy, Regulation