On February 16, 2011 at 10am the full Senate Judiciary will hold a hearing on efforts to shut down websites where IP-infringing content is hosted. The witnesses will include representatives from Rosetta Stone, the Authors Guild, GoDaddy!, Verizon, and Visa. In the last Congress, the Committee’s Chairman Sen. Leahy sponsored the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), which would authorize the take down of domain names for sites hosting infringing content, and enlisted service providers and financial intermediaries in actions against foreign-based hosts. Last year’s bill generated considerable controversy, with content owners supporting and ISPs and financial firms opposing it. CNET reports that Sen. Leahy is reaching out to various stakeholders, trying to work towards consensus before introducing similar legislation later this year.
- The hearing webcast, and prepared testimony will be available HERE.
- Sen. Leahy’s statement announcing the hearing is HERE.
- The 110th Congress’ Combating online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) is HERE.
- CNET news story by Greg Sandoval, February 10, 2011.