The Computer Systems Policy Project (CSPP), now Executive Directed by former Commerce Department Assistant Sec Bruce Mehlman, is about as close as one can come to an official Voice of Big Tech on policy matters. It is composed of the CEOs of Applied Materials; Dell; EMC; HP; Intel; IBM; Motorola; NCR; and Unisys..

Thus the July 22 CSPP letter on S. 2560 is important. It opposes the bill in its present form, suggesting a number of modifications designed to insure that the proposal would not stifle innovation or smother the tech industry in a fog of legal aggression. But it supports the objective of "confirming that bad actors that intentionally cause others to infringe the rights of others are also liable under the copyright law."

And its list of concerns does not seem to include anything that the content providers who are pushing the bill would not be willing to buy into, or have not already said. For example, the CSPP thinks the bill should state that the Sony decision is not affected by the law. The MPAA Talking Points agree that Sony does and should remain untouched; the difference between the two groups would seem to be over whether this principle should be clarified in the legislation itself or in the legislative history.

There are some minor substantive differences, but nothing that looks unreasonable, and nothing that looks like a deal breaker.

posted by James DeLong @ 1:27 PM | General

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