One of the most depressing bits of today's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Congressional hearing was watching US Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante double down on her support for blacklisting Internet sites, encouraging private companies to cut off credit card processing to certain sites in the absence of any court order, and sending the US government after sites that "facilitate" copyright infringement (YouTube? DropBox? Scribd? Google Docs?).

So serious is the apparent threat of piracy that without tough action like SOPA, "the US copyright system will ultimately fail," she said. Apparently, Pallante wasn't kidding when she told me this summer that, although quite sympathetic to the need for more flexibility in copyright, "I always start with the enforcement issues online because if there isn't effective enforcement possibility, then there is no meaningful exclusive right and then copyright doesn't work."

Indeed, Pallante already holds the view that SOPA's unprecedented provisions might not be enough, and that "additional measure or adjustments may be needed."

In her brief tenure as the top copyright official in the US, Pallante has come across as pragmatic and moderate, speaking at fair use events and talking about the need for orphan works reform and more library exceptions. So today's full-throated, almost totally unquestioning defense of SOPA as the "next step in ensuring that our law keeps pace with infringement" came as a surprise.

Gigi Sohn, head of the digital rights group Public Knowledge (which counts Google as a supporter, but which has also hosted Pallante as a speaker on fair use), was also caught off guard. "Perhaps most disappointing was the testimony of Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante," said Sohn. "The SOPA legislation is in no way ‘measured,’ as she said today."

“In March, she raised concerns about that legislation should not “unnecessarily jeopardize the efficient operation of the Internet” while endorsing a ‘follow-the-money’ approach to shutting down rogue sites. Today, she supported SOPA without qualification and failed to address the harms to cybersecurity and the Domain Name System she feared not a few months ago, while minimizing the value of the ‘follow-the-money’ approach."

Image courtesy of Library of Congress

Like a book store?

Its not just music and movies either. I've.. um... heard stories about someone that couldn't get a book legally from Kindle because it wasn't available digitally from the publisher. That person turned to the piracy sites and found the books they were looking for, and in minutes was reading the content they desired. They were fully willing to pay for the content, but because it wasn't available through legal channels, they had to go somewhere they could get the content.

Start arresting pirates. None of this civil lawsuit bullshit. It's a crime. Prosecute.

I think this is what some of the proponents of this bill ultimately want. They used a lot of rhetoric equating piracy to theft and murder.

And there's nothing wrong with arresting pirates, or wanting to.

Why do you think that's a good idea, Kaffis? Is it a moral belief that the creators of a work should have legally enforceable property rights in that work? Is it a pragmatic concern that absent such rights, the quantity and quality of creative content would be reduced? Some of both?