Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today responded to reports that both the House and Senate were delaying action on legislation that will censor the Internet in the name of protecting copyright:

"It certainly is encouraging to see both houses of Congress delay action on these pieces of legislation that would have aggressively policed the Internet. This is a victory for those who believe in an open Internet. However, in light of recent events, including the prosecution of overseas-based Megaupload utilizing existing laws and diplomacy, it is as clear as day that new laws are completely unnecessary to do what supporters of the legislation say they want. The question becomes: If the new laws are not necessary to get at foreign infringers what is the real reason behind the proposals?

"To which, you have to consider what the proposed pieces of legislation would change. As drafted, they would have provided for DNS blocking, removal from search engines, and shutting off of ad revenue and payment processing — all based merely on the accusation of piracy. So, before a defendant is even able to defend him or herself in court, their business is effectively shut down completely. The government has already been exercising these powers domestically, and in some cases errantly, as with the case of dajaz1.com.

"The bills also provided for private rights of action against Internet service providers, search engines, ad providers, and payment processors that currently do not exist under law. So, instead of the delicate balance that currently exists under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, where protected materials are removed based on legitimate takedown notices, the balance would shift completely to the IP holders, who merely through the threat of action could leverage very popular websites like YouTube, Facebook, Google, and Twitter that have been complying with the law all along.

"Merely shelving these bills, when it is perfectly clear they are unnecessary, is not enough. They need to be dropped completely. If Congress should be studying anything, it should be their own ignorance of the laws that are already on the books, instead of examining more closely whether or not to institute a regime of censorship."