Reeling from a broad Internet backlash, the Motion Picture Associaton of America has conceded that DNS filtering will not be included in the anti-piracy bills now making their way through Congress.
"DNS filtering is really off the table," said Paul Brigner, the MPAA's tech policy chief, on Tuesday. His remarks came during a debate on SOPA at the State of the Net conference in Washington DC. The event was sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee.
"The future of our industry relies on the Internet," Brigner said, noting that movie studios were increasingly selling their products to consumers via the Internet.
Critics of SOPA and PIPA had argued that the DNS-blocking provisions of those bills would hamper the implementation of DNSSEC, a more secure version of DNS that has been in the works for many years. But Brigner now says the MPAA is committed to technologies like DNSSEC.
Brigner's comments were echoed by Steve Tepp of the US Chamber of Congress, another major SOPA supporter. He said the DNS provisions of SOPA and PIPA have "essentially been taken off the table," as the sponsors of both bills—Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), respectively—have pledged to remove those provisions from the bill.
But Tepp and Brigner pledged to press on with the remaining provisions of the legislation. "We need to move forward as soon as possible," Tepp said.
And while the MPAA appears to be abandoning the DNS-filtering provisions for this Congress, Brigner hinted that his organization may resurrect the proposal in the future.
"We need more than just following the money and addressing search results." Brigner said, arguing that the remaining provisions of SOPA and PIPA, which deal with ad networks, payment networks, and search engines, would not satisfy Hollywood. So the MPAA may be back in future sessions of Congress lobbying for DNS filtering or something like it.
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