NEWS - Computers & Technology

SBJ Staff Report

Jan 23, 2012 - U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) weighed in last week on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) decision to postpone tomorrow’s scheduled vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.  Chambliss had been a co-sponsor of the bill which ran into significant opposition by internet companies, including Google.  

According to Chambliss, “It was always clear that the PROTECT I.P. Act needed to be perfected, and that legitimate concerns needed to be addressed before this bill could move forward.

“Given this and my constituents concerns, it was my intention to vote against cloture of this bill. With the majority leader’s decision to postpone Tuesday's vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act, I am withdrawing my co-sponsorship to await the resolution of the outstanding issues.

“However, I still believe that online theft is a serious issue, and that Congress does need to make certain that our laws adequately protect the interests of rights holders. When $58 billion in economic output is lost to the U.S. economy annually due to copyright theft of movies, music, packaged software and video games, and about one-quarter of all internet traffic is copyright infringing, there is a real problem that needs to be dealt with.

“I have complete faith that we will be able to work out a compromise in the future that addresses this problem, while still promoting free and open access to the internet.”