The Curious Case of Internet Censorship

Are We in America or China?
Censoring the Internet and Why Industry Supporters Are Shooting Themselves in the Foot

I informed an industry colleague of mine about this issue and that's the question I got. What I'm referring to is a bill entitled “Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act” This Huffington Post article gives a good overview of the issue.

The bill has the support of notables such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and Viacom, owner of MTV, VH1 and tons of other content you see today. If you wish to track the progress of the bill, go here.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (a group strongly opposed to this bill), on September 30, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its scheduled markup.

So why should you care about this one?

If you've read the Huffington Post article, there are some good reasons to care and I'm not going into those. However, I should mention that there is a case scheduled to go before the US Supreme Court very shortly concerning restriction on the sale of violent video games to minors. If you're interested, the case is called Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association.

Let me explain what happens when you're dealing with court cases concerning limiting sales of something against minors & punishing retailers for selling something to a minor: the product's distribution is limited and adults have to go through massive hassle to get things. This harms the retailer's business and creates censorship in fact, even though the regulation doesn't say a word about restricting adult's access. Basically, people severely overreact to avoid harsh penalties & eventually anything “controversial” never reaches the marketplace.

So in the context of this court case, I should tell you about the legal concept of the “slippery slope.” What this means is, if one restriction is okay that means we can impose an even harsher restriction based on that earlier acceptance. Eventually, the 1st Amendment becomes a joke because the marketplace adjusts to become so sanitized that new ideas never get there. Think of it as living in a 1950's sitcom with no personal responsibility and political correctness on overdrive.

Now, knowing these legal factors, here's why an indie company should care about this:

1. If censoring the Internet over infringement or counterfeit material becomes acceptable, what will stop censorship over “controversial material?” Even the US Supreme Court hasn't come up with a viable definition of obscenity. How can anyone else do it? I won't bore you with the details of that fight, but there are reasons why judges don't want you to live in a 1950's sitcom.

2. You Tube and other technologies are extremely important to indie companies and filmmakers. They do not have the same resources as the major companies and technology allows them to compete in ways they simply couldn't before the rise of the Internet. If You Tube and other sites targeted for “infringement” are gone, then indie companies will be royally screwed.

3. Speaking of royally screwed, let's talk about the major industry players for a bit. The RIAA is practically the devil in most circles & are viewed as trying to cling hopelessly to a dying business model. I'm not sure anyone respects them after all the lawsuits against everyday citizens. Do major industry supporters really want this kind of public vilification?

4. The majors & the indies will end up becoming bitter enemies since the majors just robbed the indies of their ability to conduct their business. I haven't seen the two groups as enemies (sometimes they're even allies) but if this goes through, I could certainly see it happen.

Not to mention that major studios won't be able to touch “controversial” nor thought provoking indie projects, regardless of how good a feature is, for fear of government retaliation if the government decides to play “let's protect the little children.” Forget them being able to even take risks themselves. They will not get a pass, no matter how many lobbying efforts they may try.

So, for the sake of preserving one's right to create and receive art, everyone in any level of the industry needs to consider these issues very carefully and decide whether they want to risk living in a 1950's sitcom.

- Monica

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(Monica C. Trombley is the legal administrator/project manager at her company One Way or Another Productions. She is a licensed attorney in both NY and CT.)