In February 2011, the nation's leading First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams authored a letter substantively reviewing and refuting claims that the rogue sites legislation currently under consideration in the Senate imperils the First Amendment.
The Abrams letter, addressed to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member Chuck Grassley and Senator Orrin Hatch , was presented as part of a full Committee hearing on pending rogue websites legislation (this legislation is formally known as the "Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act"). The legislation would, if passed, give the U.S. Department of Justice more effective tools to fight illegal money-making rogue websites that traffic in stolen content, much of it films and television programs created by DGA members.
In the letter, Abrams writes:
"Copyright violations are not protected by the First Amendment. Entities 'dedicated to infringing activities' are not engaging in speech that any civilized, let alone freedom-oriented, nation protects. That these infringing activities occur on the Internet makes them not less, but more harmful. The notion that by combating such acts through legislation, the United States would compromise its role as the world leader in advancing a free and universal Internet seems to me insupportable. As a matter of both constitutional law and public policy, the United States must remain committed to defending both the right to speak and the ability to protect one’s intellectual creations. This legislation does not impair or overcome the constitutional right to engage in speech; it protects creators of speech, as Congress has since this Nation was founded, by combating its theft."
- To see the full Abrams letter, which was written on behalf of the DGA, AFTRA, IATSE, SAG and the Motion Picture Association, please see the "RELATED PDFs" link to the right.
