ARP and SACD fully support the Directors Guild of America and its members in their fight to obtain a new legislation against piracy on Internet.
While the U.S. Congress has just started discussions on two bipartisan bills PIPA (Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), our organizations will follow very carefully the legislative debates on these bills.
Like American directors, ARP and SACD consider the US approach to be very appropriate: by reinforcing the authority of the Ministry of Justice to take legal action against foreign based websites accused of infringing the law on copyright and by organizing the interruption of financial support currently granted to pirate sites through payment services and / or online advertising, the Congress would do useful work, especially against illegal streaming websites.
In this regard, ARP and SACD consider the accusations made in the name of freedom of expression disproportionate, since the intervention of a judicial court represents a guarantee set up by law.
ARP and SACD are also very confused about the exact motivations of the Internet industry, better known in Europe for avoiding their obligations towards the creative community, reaching for maximum tax optimization and weakening the public finances of many States.
The fierce desire to maintain business operations and the profits derived therefrom, regardless of the rights and labor of creators, should not be hidden behind the principle of freedom of the Net.
ARP and SACD therefore hope that the American directors can rapidly obtain the means to better enforce their rights by facilitating, with the intervention of a judge, the blocking of illegal websites and by drying out sources of income for the sites that practice digital counterfeiting.
Press contacts:
ARP - 01 53 42 40 00 – www.larp.fr
SACD - 01 40 23 45 00 – www.sacd.fr
