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RIAA calls online piracy a threat to national security

RIAA calls online piracy a threat to national security

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RIAA Senior Executive VP Mitch Glazier has written a blog post criticizing OPEN, and suggesting that the ITC is unable to work at the necessary speed to take down copyright-infringing websites.

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Music industry group the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has rejected OPEN (the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act), the bill proposed by Representative Darrell Issa and Senator Ron Wyden as an alternative to the controversy-laden SOPA. A chief difference between SOPA and OPEN is the governmental division responsible for enforcing infringements — while SOPA would be policed by the Department of Justice, OPEN would belong to the International Trade Commission.

In a blog post on the RIAA website, Senior Executive VP Mitch Glazier says that the ITC "clearly does not operate on the short time frame necessary to be effective," citing the delays in the RIM vs. Kodak case — filed in January 2010 but now expected to be ruled on in September — as a prime example. Glazier sees these delays as hugely damaging, saying that each day a piracy-facilitating website stays online can cost millions of dollars to "American companies, employees and [the] economy," and be "an ongoing threat to the security and safety of our citizens." Classic scaremongering if we've ever seen it.

Considering it's been a chief proponent of SOPA from the start, it's hardly surprising that RIAA opposes a less far-reaching bill. However, despite the obvious strength of feeling by the association, support for SOPA from other quarters has floundered.