Companies including Pinterest, Etsy and Vimeo are urging lawmakers to reject an anti-piracy proposal that would effectively require web companies to use as-yet-undeveloped filtering tools. The proposal “would inject uncertainty” into online copyright law, while also posing a risk to users’ privacy and their ability to access information, the companies and other opponents say in a letter sent this week to lawmakers. The letter comes in response to the proposed Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies (SMART) Copyright Act of 2022, introduced earlier this month by Sens. Thom Tillis (left) and Patrick Leahy.
Veteran fair-use advocate and former top FCC counselor Gigi Sohn has collected endorsements for the agency‘s open Democratic seat from various groups and legislators. But a single senator can block a full Senate vote on her confirmation and a single senator — Tom Tillis (R-N.C.) — is still signaling that is what he will do if Sohn‘s nomination is favorably reported out of the Senate Commerce Committee.
A spokesperson for Sen. Thom Tillis told Next TV late Monday that he will do his best to keep Democratic nominee Gigi Sohn off the FCC. “Senator Tillis is going to do everything he can to stop Gigi Sohn’s confirmation, including putting a hold,” Tillis’s communications director, Adam Webb, said in an email.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.) is floating a plan to revise copyright enforcement, requiring tech companies to take a more active role in policing their sites for piracy by users.
