Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act. I am glad to hear from you and appreciate having the benefit of your views of this issue.
As you probably know, much of our economy is built upon innovation and inventiveness. As such, our laws must incentivize continued creativity and innovation by effectively protect the rights of content creators. That is to say, people who create new, imaginative media and other intellectual content should be able gain appropriate compensation for having produced new material.
Conversely, we must balance these rights with the public’s ability to use media, especially the internet, for exercising their Right to Free Speech, research and enjoyment. Our nation has never supported government censorship and I will certainly not allow censorship to begin on my watch.
Therefore, we must provide effectively for protection of intellectual property rights, as is reasonably possible within the structure of our nation’s laws and legal tradition. To that effect, my colleague U.S. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) has introduced H.R. 3261, which would expand intellectual property protections and combat counterfeit goods distribution by way of rogue websites. With the implementation of H.R. 3261, the Attorney General or copyright holders could take action against foreign websites that steal or illegally distribute American intellectual content.
While this legislation has noble aims, I am concerned that it does not provide adequate protections for users of the internet and could represent an unsupportable expansion of the Federal Government’s power. As such, I am wary of this legislation and am currently investigating it further.
As of now, H.R. 3261 has been referred to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, where it awaits further consideration. If this bill begins to move through the legislative process, and I will certainly keep your thoughts foremost in mind. Please remain engaged with me on this issue, and please keep me apprised of any relevant updates as you see fit.
Again, thank you for contacting me. It is a true honor to serve you here in Congress. If there is ever anything else that I can do to be of service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me again.
Respectfully,
Jeff Landry
U.S. Member of Congress
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