For the majority of the last decade, Hollywood studios and content providers’ anti-piracy approach has been to secure the cooperation of Internet businesses and other ecosystem members.
Earlier this year, MPA Chairman Charles Rivkin announced a new degree of collaboration with Google, after the search engine was chastised for failing to do enough to prevent copyright theft.
Recently, lawmakers have questioned Verisign, the largest domain name registry, about why the corporation has so far failed to join an endeavor to detect and eventually deactivate flagrant infringing websites. Such partnerships are known as “trusted notifier” arrangements because they deliver reliable information about illicit website material to a register or registrant.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Rep. Ted Deutch (D-FL), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and Sen. Christopher Coons (D-GA) signed the letter (D-DE).
In response to the legislators, the business stated that it has begun negotiations with industry executives “with the goal of building collaborations with state and federal authorities.”
However, Verisign CEO Jim Bidzos said that the business was wary of doing so because a nearly three-decade-old agreement with the Department of Commerce “requires us to operate in a content-neutral way.”
“This is a one-of-a-kind commitment,” he wrote. “This implies that Verisign does not design its infrastructure or implement operational regulations based on our own opinions about the material that may be connected with it.”
Verisign, according to Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture, “has the authority to suspend service websites engaging in a huge online infringement – which rips money out of the pockets of millions of hardworking Americans in our nation’s film and television economy.”
For years, our community has begged Verisign for help in disabling the domain names of pirate websites, and members of Congress have also asked. Despite this, Verisign refuses to take any substantial action, despite the fact that other registrars have done so effectively.”
Requests for comment were not returned by Verisign.
