Dodd on piracy bill: 'Hollywood is pro-Internet'

Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), now the head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), on Tuesday pushed back at criticism his industry is backing an online piracy bill that would lead to censorship online.

“Hollywood is pro-Internet. We stand with those who strongly oppose foreign governments that would unilaterally block websites and thus deny the free flow of information and speech," Dodd said in a speech at the Center for American Progress.

"So I want to make it clear right at the outset that our fight against content theft is not a fight against technology. It is a fight against criminals.”

The MPAA and its member studios are among the strongest supporters of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which has drawn a backlash from the technology community because it would force search engines and other Web firms to delete links to foreign websites deemed to be "dedicated" to copyright infringement.

Dodd denied that the bill would lead to censorship, citing a recent study by Envisional that found nearly a quarter of Internet traffic is copyright-infringing.

“Attacking international content theft is not about restricting speech. Quite the opposite. Just as the Constitution defends an artist’s right to create, copyright protections defend the artist’s ability to do so,” Dodd said.

“There is a difference between believing that the Internet should be free and open and believing that just because something’s on the Internet, it should be free.”

SOPA is scheduled for a markup by the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Opponents of the bill have drafted their own proposal, dubbed the OPEN Act, that is scheduled to be formally introduced Wednesday.

---