MPAA chief Chris Dodd is not giving up on SOPA, and wants President Obama to use his good relationship with the tech sector to reach a compromise
MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd has boldly claimed that SOPA, or something like it, could very well make a comeback, this time with the support of the tech community.
Despite a vote on SOPA, and PIPA, being delayed indefinitely back in January due to widespread protests on the Internet and via letters and messages sent to Congressman and Senators, Dodd is not giving up on the premise of the bill, to allow the US government to seize and censure "foreign rogue" websites contributing to copyright infringement and other activities deemed "unacceptable" to the movie and music industries.
Speaking in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Dodd says the film industry wants to "come to an understanding" when it came to content protection issues, because he believes in this day and age, content and technology cannot exist without each other. "There are not a huge number of people who understand that content and technology absolutely need each other, so I'm counting on the fact that there are people like Jeff (Skoll, founder of eBay, but also currently a chairman of a film company) others who are smart and highly respected in both communities," Dodd added.
Dodd was keen to stress that President Obama would have an instrumental role in bridging the divide between the tech and content sectors, despite the White House partially allying itself with the anti-SOPA coalition back in January, to the chagrin of media owners such as Rupert Murdoch. "I'll only say to you that I'm confident he's using his good relationships in both communities to do exactly what you and I have been talking about," Dodd answered when asked about President Obama's role in the January SOPA stand-off.
Since the stand-off, the MPAA and RIAA, and their allies including the influential lobbyists, the US Chamber of Commerce, have been conducting a PR offensive to get SOPA back on track. It seems to have worked, with the White House coming out just last week with a statement of support for SOPA like legislation to "address offshore infringement".
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