GPPi fellow comments on debate over Internet copyright

On 11 February 2012, GPPi Fellow Tim Maurer published an op-ed in Zeit Online, the website of the weekly German newspaper Die Zeit, in which he comments on recent protests against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Europe and new cyber-security legislation in the United States.

In his piece, Maurer focuses on the recent legislative proposals for the first comprehensive cyber-security legislation in the US in a decade. He points out that efforts pertaining to cyber-security enjoy bipartisan support despite the tension building up ahead of the November 2012 election. According to Paul Rosenzweig, a professor at George Washington University, ​“Cyber-security is likely to set a new world record for competing bills with bipartisan co-sponsors.” Maurer highlights, however, that the outcome of the lawmakers’ activity is far from certain.

Maurer also describes a rift that sharply divides US politics: the rift between the government on the East Coast and the technology companies in Silicon Valley on the West Coast. Moreover, while the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act were economic bills aiming to protect copyright, the new proposals are no longer economic ones but focus on national security, which will prove much harder for libertarians to rally against.

Read the commentary (in German). Or click here for an English version.